


Ocean Calls

by orphan_account



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Sailing, Magic to a degree, Multi, The Sailing AU nobody asked for, loosely inspired by Moana, mostly just polynesian culture and hamilton, okay I'm lying its very inspired by moana
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-13 18:14:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 31,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10519137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Alexander and his family had been sailing between St. Croix and Nevis for years until a hurricane took his home while he was out on a fishing trip, When Alexander returned there was nothing but ruin and a young boy desperate for his help, and so Philip and Alexander sail the ocean, searching for a new island and family. Little did they know a certain group of Greenpeace revolutionaries bump into them.





	1. The Secrets of Our History

Philip and Alexander had been sailing the ocean for five years, Alex had met Philip when he had been only fourteen, Philip himself was only four, now Alexander was nineteen and Philip was nine, they’d never kept track of their actual birthdays but every winter when the air got cool they marked a new tally on their boat, The Lion. 

Alexander remembered the day Philip boarded his boat, he remembered the carnage spread across the town, and the destruction. Nevis had always been a poor but pleasantly quiet island and when a distressed mother begged for him to take a young Philip he had done so with no hesitation, besides he had nobody left on the island anymore, anyways. 

He remembered the week after they departed from Nevis, first Alexander had decided to return to St. Croix, there he could at least strike a deal with some people and pull some strings to get Philip enough food to survive, he’d always wished that civilization had gone back to how his mother told him it used to work, people sharing everything, dancing and colonizing island after island. At least if the civilization was like that he could get Philip the basic needs.

But St. Croix had also been destroyed, his boat had only been stocked with enough food to last a good five months, and yet the pair had survived five years on kelp and various other food sources. The first lesson Philip was ever given was how to pick kelp, Alexander had brought Philip to a place where he could see the kelp faintly from above the wave. 

“Primo guardia!” Philip squeaked, pulling gently on Alex’s small, ripped pants, Alex turned to face the young boy, he hadn’t realized how long he had been lost in thought, his foot behind him was steering the boat using the paddle behind him, he hadn’t realized that the mast had folded to the wrong side, causing them to float backwards.

Alexander took no time at all to correct his mistake, pulling the rope that was wrapped around his hand and slowly letting the wind drag the boat forward at a racing speed, Alex looked apologetically at Philip as they picked up sleep.

“Lo siento, Pipa.” He apologized, Philip just gave him a big smile and went back to doing his boat activities, like reading the plethora of books Alexander had on the boat, stories that his mother had told to him multiple times and some he’d discovered after her death.

 

“¿Primo? ¿Puedes contarme una historia?” Phillip asked, putting his book down, Alexander’s brain was too fried at the moment to comprehend any language other than english, sometimes his brain did that, after being stranded for five years and having the mental capacity of someone much older than him did that to him. It was almost torture to see the waves every day and the only thing grounding him was Philip and the sharks.

“Inglés.” Alexander managed to get out, Philip was fluent in all the languages Alexander was in, and he knew well that Alexander had to switch them very often, why exactly he wasn’t sure but he always did with no questions.

“Can you tell me a story?” Philip requested again, Alexander smiled, tying up the paddle in place so the boat didn’t steer off course, unfortunately in his mental ride he accidentally might have brought them off course anyways, he’d figure out at night when he saw the constellations. 

“Of course mi hijo.” Even in his odd fits of language one phrase was always said in spanish, it had always been mi hijo or philip.

“Is it gonna be about sharks again? They’re scary!” Philip groaned, making a big pouty face, Alexander chuckled at his antics.

“Mi hijo, whoever taught you sharks were scary is incorrect, or dead, most likely both. Let me assure you they are no threat to us, I’ve been waiting to tell you this tale for years- well, more like I’ve been waiting until you were old and mature enough.” Alexander explained, Philip pouted more and grunted, crossing his arms.

“A-a-ah, Philip do you want the story or not? You might be too young if you’re acting like that” Alexander teased, Philip grunted once more and uncrossed his arm in defeat.

“I’m old enough.” Philip protested, Alexander smiled and sat down on the ground, criss-crossed. Philip did the same, this position was a constant when they told stories.

“Alright, whatever you say. This is a story my mother told me many moons ago, before you were born, now the young boy in this story goes by the name of John. Will you remember that mi hijo?” Alexander winked at the boy, he giggled and nodded, puffing out his chest.

“John!” He repeated, Alexander nodded and continued.

“John was the soon-to-be chief of Nevis many, many cycles ago, he was an outcast- he did not wish to lead the village, he wished to lead the sharks away from the island, he wished for their safety, so he spoke to the sharks.” Alexander stood up and pulled Philip up, leading him to the side of the Lion as he peered into the water.

“How?” Philip asked, his eyes sparkling with awe.

“He requested to get a tattoo, a tattoo of a shark, you see my boy, tattoos were very spiritual marks, tattoos symbolized power, freedom and much more, but the strongest tattoos were those of animals, because if you obtained an animal tattoo you would be revived as that animal” Alexander smiled, pulling down his shirt to reveal a tattoo of a lion, Philip had seen the tattoo before, but he’d never realized the meaning behind it.

“And so, John was forbidden from getting a shark tattoo, so he created a plan, he would swim with the sharks and try to learn more about them, so he was given a journal by his father, one so he could draw manta rays, sea lions and turtles, so he drew turtles on the front pages and hid his research on sharks in the back of the book, he went swimming with them daily and he realized the beauty they truly shared, they showed him to good hunting grounds, introduced him to beautiful reefs he’d never seen before, they never attacked him, in fact they feared him at first.” 

Alexander dipped his hand into the water and checked the direction of the waves, he decided to turn the boat before continuing, so he untied the paddle and quickly turned it in another direction, the boat tipping slightly to one side before he moved the sail with perfect precision. 

“But they grew to love him, they showed him things that you would never believe were possible.” Alexander continued, his voice passionate and strong.

“That was, until he was caught.” Alexander’s face darkened as he pulled on the rope, dragging the mast to the center of the boat and picking up speed, white water trailing past them, Philip always loved when he used the speed of the boat to enhance the storytelling experience.

“His father discovered his studies and the town was outraged, his father forced him to get a tattoo of a rat, a cursed animal in their society and then he was sentenced to death, they had left him to get his tattoo by the son of the island’s official tattoo artist, since it would be an unholy act to tattoo a cursed animal to the back of a villager.” Alexander quickly stopped the boat, something Philip was used to, but it always caught him by surprise, like a jumpscare.

“But, the son of the tattoo artist, a young man by the name of Gilbert did not want to tattoo such an cursed animal on John’s back, and so, what did he get tattooed?” Alexander asked Philip jumped up with confidence.

“A shark!” He exclaimed, Alexander chuckled.

“He got a large hammerhead shark with sacred markings and a rip in it’s left fin. And so the next day, John was stripped down to just his grass cover-up and tied up with coconut fibre rope and thrown into the sea.” Alexander once again stepped to the side of the boat, he tapped his two thumbs together and twisted them, closing his eyes and placing his hand in the water once more.

A brilliant cyan glow radiated from his hand and quickly began to spread out in the water, shimmering like magic as it made large ripples around the boat, Philip stared in awe as a gigantic hammerhead with brilliant markings on it’s creamy grey coat lept out of the water, with a shimmering trail of cyan behind it as it circled the boat before jumping out of the water once more, revealing the ripped fin. 

“JONH?!” Phillip yelped, bouncing over to the shark and blinking at him with awe.

 

“You see, the tattoo wasn’t the reason John came back as a shark.” Alex explained as the shark dove back into the deep, more smaller shark fins began to appear above the surface, Philip looked overjoyed to see them, he held out his hand to stroke the smooth skin of the animals.

“It was because of the secret the sharks had told him, and that secret was told to Gilbert and it has been passed down to my mother and then to me, and soon, to you. But before you learn it, you must learn to hunt with the sharks, mi hijo.” Alexander finished, walking to the back of the boat and picking up the speed, the sharks sped up with the boat and began to circle around a spot in the distance, Alex slowed the boat down to a stop.

“Go to where the sharks bring you, you will not drown if you trust them.” Alex concluded, Philip neared the edge of the boat, staring into the circle that the sharks had formed, he looked back at Alexander to see him nodding.

“Ve a Pipa” Alexander encouraged, Philip turned back to the circle and dove in.

The water started off as dark, he could see multiple sharks swimming around, hunting for colorful fish, he noticed a few sharks with patterns like John’s and some were simply normal. The patterned sharks all turned to face Philip, and their markings began to light up like Alexander’s hands and tattoo had. Suddenly, Philip felt at ease, then it hit him, he was breathing underwater.

Philip swam around the ocean, following some of the patterned sharks to a swarm of fish, kicking his legs wildly in the water as he neared a fish, a spike of adrenaline coursed through his veins as he snapped at the fish, grabbing it by the neck and snapping it quickly, Philip gasped at his success, he had always wondered how Alexander had caught them so many fish, but now he knew. The secret.

Philip emerged minutes later with a heap of fish in his arms, he dumped them all on the boat and began to heave himself onto the boat, Alexander quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him up, with a cheesy smile on his face. Philip could feel the need for water leave his body as he began to breath air again.

“Nice hunt.” Alex complemented, watching with satisfaction as Philip gave him a big happy smile, the one that Alex loved to see. 

“That was so cool!” Philip giggled, picking up his fresh kill and dumping them into the safe, hiding them in the damp area Alexander had taught him to put them in, so that they didn’t dry out and rot before eating them. 

“Are you scared of Sharks anymore?” Alex said with a smug look stretched across Philip stuck out his tongue.

“I wasn’t scared, just… superstitious!” Philip objected, Alexander just chuckled.

“Alright Pipa, I know you just put them away but it’s dinner, you’ve been hunting for such long it’s nearly nightfall.” Alexander spoke, pointing up at orange sky, hints of purple slowly beginning to filter in, Philip groaned before grabbing two fresh fish from the compartment, he threw them over to Alex who was sitting by the paddle, looking more exhausted than usual, but Philip didn’t think much of it, he just passed Alexander the fish and offered to take the rope from him, but Alexander just gripped it tighter.

“I’m fine Pip.” He spoke, it was rushed and croaky, so Philip just backed off and ate his fish in silence, tearing into the skin and picking the bones clean.

Alexander smiled as Philip tore into his food, he personally had no appetite, but he picked at his fish regardless, magic was something that had always drained him, but he knew that wasn’t the only thing, days ago he’d been hunting and his leg had began to sting horribly once he got into the deeper water, he could begin to see a strange looking red vein crawling up his leg, making it throb constantly.

He could never tell Philip about his foot injury, or the fact that his lungs were constantly throbbing as well, it felt like crystals were growing all over his rib cage, he’d tried to hide the dry coughing that had always bubbled up at some point during the day.

“Are you gonna eat Alex?” Philip asked, Alex cursed internally.

“Español” Alex requested, Philip nodded. 

“¿Vas a comer?” Philip asked once more, Alexander considered this before taking one large bite of the fish, handing the rest to Philip and smiled as the boy picked at the rest of the half-eaten fish and with that Alex began to doze off, he knew that sleep was something that a wayfinder never did but he couldn’t help it.

“Voy a dirigir la nave esta noche.” Philip thought out loud, Pushing Alex out of the way and wrapping the rope around his hand, positioning his foot by the steering paddle and measuring the stars, and with that he rode into the night sky.


	2. Everyone Attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile in the Greenpeace boat
> 
> also, bless Rob Stewart, if you don't know who he is, please take some time out of your day to look him up, hell, donate a buck or two to greenpeace or watch Sharkwater! I trust that you guys will see the world a bit differently when you do and it is such an experience.
> 
> But once again, bless Rob Stewart, Rest in peace

“Alright, John, since this is your first day we won’t have you do anything crazy, I mean, unless-” Washington started, before being cut off by the new recruit. 

“Mr. Washington, in all due respect, I think I’ll be able to hold my own if we do get into a big situation, I know what I signed up for, sir.” John insisted, winning a proud smile from Washington as he lead John onto the large boat, titled the Rainbow Waters, it wasn’t the most intimidating name, but that was the point of Greenpeace.

“Welcome to the Greenpeace federation, Mr. Laurens.” Washington put a light hand on John’s shoulder as he held out his hand to enhance the wonderful view of the deck of the ship, the bars were painted a dark forest green, same as the rest of the outside of the boat, there was some kind of gull on the side with a rainbow trail following behind him, other things in the exterior included a high pressure water cannon (which John personally thought was more badass than any other weapon.) and other various weapons to knock other boats over.

“You will be assigned to the water cannon, with my son, Gilbert.” Washington instructed, noticing John’s obvious fascination with the weapon, he hadn't even noticed the other young man up there, he looked around 16, who was prepping a few things up by the canon, Washington lightly shoved him into the direction of the stairs, John ascended them with no hesitation.

“Hi, I’m John, I’m the new recruit and I’m supposed to be working the water cannon with you?” John looked a bit unsure as he held out his hand for the other man to shake, he looked nothing like George, but he assumed this boy just looked more like his mother or something.

“Bonjour! Pleasure to meet you mon ami! My name is… Long, just call me Lafayette, or Gilbert, or Joseph for that matter, it does not matter much to me, John!” Lafayette smiled brightly, grabbing John’s hand and shaking it with surprising amounts of muscle, John swore Lafayette could pick him up with one hand if he wanted.

“So, George is your dad?” John asked, trying to make some small talk as Lafayette did his little chores here and there.

“Oui, well to be more specific, he is my foster father, he’s adopting me for my birthday this year.” That made much more sense to John, he simply nodded at Lafayette, who was ushering him to some kind of seat in front of the water cannon.

“So, tell me about yourself, John, why did you join greenpeace?” Lafayette asked, sitting down on the other chair on the deck, crossing his legs like it was some kind of interview, John always hated interviews.

“Well, you see… I really like, y’know, savin’ people? Savin’ animals? You get it man, It’s just that since when I was young my cousin had come over once a month with fish and turtle soup and all that crap, and I never wanted to eat it, made me sick, ‘cuz, like when I went to the aquarium once with my dad I learned turtles and sharks and stuff actually existed man! It was like, magic! I drew them every day and when this like, Rob Stewart man died It hurt, you know him? Saved a bunch of sharks? Diver?” John stopped his rambling for a moment to see Lafayette nod, his eyes looked like they had stars in him, he’d never seen someone so interested in his story.

“Yeah, so he died and my dad was all like, ‘oh well he didn’t even live long enough to do anything about his cause, if that guy was such a big deal and lived then we wouldn’t have the soup on our plate and we’d all starve’ but he’s like, wrong and stuff so I looked into greenpeace and I decided I’d quote on quote, starve my dad.” John concluded, he could see Lafayette trying to hide his laughter behind some kind of pitying laugh, so John decided to let his own laughter out, hoping Lafayette would catch the queue, he did and the two just giggled to each other as the boat kept moving.

“Oh, my friend you would get along wonderfully with Thomas, he works down in the weapons hall and he loved Rob Steward, him and his… Friend… If that’s even the right word for their relationship, James was the one who showed Thomas about the man and that’s why the two joined greenpeace, don’t tell him I told you this but, Thomas is a big crybaby about this kind of thing, and he won’t admit it but the night Rob Stewart died, he cried for four hours straight. Madison told me.” Lafayette winked, John kept chuckling, this Thomas character was gonna be a treat to talk to.  
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────  
“CODE GREY!” a voice boomed, it was one he hadn’t heard before, but it was as proud as George’s, and it was a female, interesting, after about two days on the boat, he’d only really been spending his time with Gilbert and training with George, he was excited to have his first real mission. 

“ON THE RIGHT.” Another voice called, two tall men running out of one of the doors, one looked strikingly similar to Lafayette, the other was a shorter man wearing a grey raincoat over his uniform was carrying a bucket of harpoon guns.

“John, turn that lever on my command, I’ll do the aiming, you keep the water flowing.” Lafayette commanded, everything was a big blur of adrenaline after that, Lafayette quickly leaping out of his seat and turning the canon around, John could see Washington on the deck, yelling something at the boat, it was a bright red with a black and white stripe between the two, it was called the Seabury.

“Wait for it…” Lafayette aimed dead at the boat, squinting down at the contents, there was a plethora of dead sharks on the boat, their fins stripped from their bodies and a disgusting amount of blood on the floor, John was petrified.

“FIRE!” Lafayette boomed, John quickly pulled the lever back as a fast spray of water began to shoot from the canon, directly at the men on the ship, John grinned manically as he watched the men quickly begin to pack up the shark fins and reel in their longlines from the water and frantically try and remove the water from the boat before it sunk.

“Hey, kid, we need you down at the bottom.” The man that looked like Lafayette spoke, throwing a weapon into John’s hands.

“Thomas, by the way.” He said as they quickly made their way down the stairs, there were two girls on the deck with weapons as well as the other man, who John assumed to be James was still handing them out. 

“Thomas, they got long lines, we need you to cut them.” Washington ordered, Jefferson nodded and quickly stripped out of his jacket, revealing a wetsuit underneath, he strapped on his snorkel and dove over the side, meanwhile the men on the boat kept persisting, sailing their boat out of the water as Lafayette poured dozens of gallons of water onto their boat, John could see it sinking slowly. 

“Help!” a voice was calling out, one from the boat, John growled at the cry, staring at the man calling, his hands were tied up and his body looked absolutely trashed, his eyes fearful, but a tad hopeful at the same time. He looked quite similar to James, John noted again, so many secret duplicates today, what’s next, a duplicate of himself? 

“Get back in there!” One of the men on the boat growled at the slave, John growled once more, staring at the two spears in his hand, one had a long piece of rope attached to it, the other was a straight up spear, John had to think fast.

“GILBERT! STOP THE WATER I GOTTA GO GET THAT GUY!” John yelled up, Lafayette looked confused, staring at the scene on the boat, even from where John was he could see Lafayette’s pupils shrinking in fear, he quickly turned off the water as John tied the rope to one of the rails, taking deadly aim and firing one of his spears at the weak wood of the deck, he stuck it perfectly, with his other spear he quickly jumped over the side, looping the spear over the rope and grabbing the other side, ziplining to the other boat and jumping on deck.

“John! Watch out!” A voice called from behind him, he quickly ducked as another spear was thrown over his head, hitting a man in the arm that was behind him, the man screamed from behind him as he ran towards the man restraining the slave.

“Back off of him!” John demanded, taking a little tip he learned from martial arts and using the elbow to deal a devastating blow to the head, he quickly untied the other man and lead him back to his rope contraption. 

“Here, I got you, we can do this, just like a tightrope.” John spoke calmly, to not distress the already distressed man further, he gently took his hand and began to dance across the sturdy rope, the other man followed, wobbling and whimpering at every step.

“One more step.” John smiled patiently, his hand still firmly locked with the other man’s as the rival boat shook, another man was climbing the tightrope with a dagger in his hands, the slave quickly jumped over as John untied the rope, watching the redcoat drop into the sea and flail around aimlessly.

“ALRIGHT GILBERT, YOU’RE GOOD TO GO!” John shouted, and once again the water began to pour over the red boat, they finally retreated, giving up their shark fins to the sea, the greenpeace group all cheered, the two girls coming over to John and the mystery man and complementing his work.

“You’re the new recruit, John, right? sorry we haven’t been talking to you much, George got us all on duty downstairs, I’m Angelica, this is Peggy, we’re two of the three Schuyler sisters, our third sister is working at the hospital back at the harbour.” Angelica explained, holding out a hand for John to shake, he did so- his other hand still linked with the rescued man.

“And what’s your name?” Peggy asked the other man in a bubbly voice, he shifted on his feet and answered in a surprisingly confident voice.

“Hercules Mulligan, I don’t need any introduction, pleasure to meet you, thanks by the way, John.” Hercules grinned, squeezing John’s hand before letting go as Washington walked over. John’s pupils quickly began to shrink, he’d heard the name before. 

“Good work, son! You may go return to your station, you, would you mind talking to me in my office, I have a few questions for you.” Washington quickly ushered the girls and John away, putting a hand on Hercules’ shoulder and leading him into one of the rooms in the boat.

“I trust that you are not working for those redcoat bastards, if I hear any word about you working for them, my son will personally throw you off the boat and blast you with the water cannon.” George spoke in a calm yet threatening voice, Hercules was unphased by it.

“I… I’m sorry… I should introduce myself, I’m Hercules Mulli-” George Washington gasped quickly cut him off.

“Hercules Mulligan, my apologies, I- everyone assumed that you died! I’m sorry for assuming, son!” Washington apologized, giving himself a dazed facepalm.

“It’s fine my man, I didn’t realize I was such a celebrity!” Hercules chuckled, Washington just scoffed.

“Son, anyone who helped Rob Stewart is a hero in my book. You were the youngest on his boat right? I assume you were captured in Rob’s last raid.” Hercules nodded, shifting slightly under the desk, uncomfortably.

“Yes, I heard news that he died. Bless his soul.” Hercules answered, looking rather distracted.

“I apologize for poking, son, you look starving, the girls and James have food downstairs, you know the way around the Greenpeace boats so I have no need to give you the tour, you can bunk with John and Gilbert in room B5.” Washington explained, Hercules nodded and saluted as he exited the room, with a huge smile on his face, he was free.   
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────  
“¿Por qué el cielo es amarillo?” Philip asked, pointing up at the phenomenon he’d never really noticed before, but something about the scene brought back a sour taste in his mouth. 

“Huracán” Alex whispered, 

“¿León?” Philip bit his lip, gently shaking his immobile guardian as his breathing speed increased, they’d been escaping hurricanes for five years, why the one night he grew to exhausted did he have to forget to measure the stars and check the water.

“D-do you want English?” Philip tested, rocking him again, Alex let out a sputtered cough and nodded timidly.

“Okay, I-I’m sorry if I put the boat in the wrong direction, I was looking for Leo but I only found Cancer, and you said follow Cancer if I can’t find Leo! B-but why are you so scared of the yellow sky? The sharks will protect us!” Philip tried to calm down the panicked man, but he kept getting worse, coughing becoming more frequent and rough.

“Pip… I can’t move… Pip you… You need to keep us moving.” Alex forced out, Philip’s face had concern written all over it.

“Just stay there until you can, Papa.” and with that Philip took the reins as the dark clouds began to roll in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how to pay respects with a fanfiction ft. Listenlyss, YELL AT ME IF GOOGLE TRANSLATE KILLED THE SPANISH


	3. Waves Crash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The storm hits, what are the boats to do?

“C’mon guys, move!” Washington boomed over the sound of waves crashing over the greenpeace boat. Feet around the boat were pitter pattering as Burr, John, Thomas and Washington all scooped the water out of the boat, The Schuyler sisters were in the boiler room, scooping nature-friendly fuel into the boilers while James, Lafayette and Hercules worked on sailing the boat safely through the hurricane.

“Thomas! Pass me that bucket!” Washington shouted, Jefferson quickly threw a pail to the commander before turning back to scooping the heaps of water out of the boat. John was on the top deck, trying to prevent the water from water falling onto Jefferson and Washington, he prayed for a miracle, a miracle that would save them all from this god forbidden hurricane.

“JOHN BE CAREFUL!” Peggy shouted, Angelica behind her, the two rushed out of the boiler room and went up to help John, he hadn’t even realized the wind had blown him to the edge of the boat until they said that, he quickly maneuvered himself away from the edge, fighting the terrible winds.

“Peggy! You be Careful as well!” Angelica instructed, giving a strict glare at her sister as she fought the wind.

And then he saw it, just faintly in the distance. He was starstruck, just floating out there in the rough waves, a little canoe with a large white sail, John squinted, wasting no time to head to the edge of the boat to get a better look, still scooping water out of the boat without thinking.

“John! What are you doing!?” Angelica ordered, but he kept staring at the mystery boat, he could see two figures on it, one of them had a strange cyan aura he’d never seen on anything before, and the other was holding onto him tightly as the boat navigated through the waves, the sail quickly turning away from the boat and leaving John’s field of vision with blinding speed.

And just like that, the rain slowly began to disappear, like a miracle. Sighs of relief flooded the damp air as the clouds began to slowly roll away.

A miracle

The boat was a miracle. It had to be, there’s no other reason that the clouds would just clear like that, John’s call for a miracle actually worked…

“Is everyone in one piece up there?” Washington called, John quickly rushed over with the other schuyler sisters to finish scooping out the last few puddles of water, before calling back down.

“We’re all fine up here!” John sounded surprisingly distant, just lost in thought over the mystery boat, he decided there’d be only one way to calm his senses, draw.  
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────  
“Pirates.” Alex deadpanned, squeezing Philip’s hand a tiny bit harder, he had managed to push most of the panic out of his system as the waves began to grow larger, either him and Philip would both die because Alexander couldn’t move, or he’d get his act together and pull them out of this mess. 

“Philip, go tie the sail up for a moment and try and tie up any loose knots” Alex requested, Philip carefully made his way to the sail and climbed the pole with no fear whatsoever, he quickly reeled it in and tied it up, this would make their escape quicker if Alex could stabilize the boat, in this condition, the knots needed to be re-sealed before they could get out.

Alexander was tying his own knots with the rope that could easily get this boat moving in one tiny pull, one accidental flinch, but he kept steady, so did Philip, for the most part…  
“ALEX!” Philip yelped, grabbing onto a pole as the boat rocked, dangerously close to tipping, Philip’s grip was quickly failing, Alexander had to do something fast, he grounded one foot onto the other side of the boat, grabbing the edge of it and leaning down to grab Philip.

Alex couldn’t do this without the power and he knew it, so he quickly whistled a small tune and felt his body heat up slightly, he managed to find the strength to clean up the waves and tip the boat back, grabbing Philip by the arm and pulling him back on the boat before unleashing the sail and speeding away, still keeping his grip on Pip’s arm.

“Alex, you’re glowing!” Philip remarked as they sailed along the suspiciously clear path Alexander had made in the water, Alex could slowly feel the heat escape his body as they escaped the storm.

“Mi hijo, don’t ever use magic when no sharks are around or summoned to play with water unless you’re in a storm.” Alex taught, Philip looked a tad confused before realizing what Alex meant, he was deadly pale and sweating a ton, or that might just be residue from the rain, Philip wasn’t sure.

“Papa, sit down, I can steer.” Philip insisted, Alex surprisingly didn’t fire back, instead sitting down with no fight or lip, trying to catch his breath again.

“Mi hijo… I’m proud of you, we both made it out alive and I’m so proud at how fearless you were.” Alex felt his horrid cough coming back as he spoke, he decided to let it all go as his rough coughs shook the boat slightly.

“Don’t speak, Papa, just rest.” Philip instructed, Alex groaned and lied down on the rough wood he was so used to.  
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────  
“John!” Burr knocked on the door that he was already opening. John quickly lept to his feet, attempting to hide his pencil and papers in a rush, but it was too late.

“What are you hiding?” Burr questioned in his emotionless voice, John just gulped and hugged his papers close to his chest.

“I- Um… I was just, drawing?” John spoke quickly than he normally did, pushing in his chair with one of his hands while the other hid the paper behind his back. 

“What were you drawing…?” Aaron questioned again, this time his voice had a pinch of suspicion in it.

“Um… boats…” John made an award smile as he slowly placed his papers on the table for Aaron to see, he internally cursed to himself, thinking that Burr would hate his art. 

“Interesting.” Burr said, inspecting each little stroke of the pencil, noticing the realistic shading and very realistic style.

“Um, thank you?” John shifted on his feet, he knew Burr had shown no real emotion when they had a brief conversation yesterday, but he had an eerie thought that Burr was just constantly judging everyone and could win any argument in a flash.

“What made you decide to draw an outrigger canoe? In this kind of weather and all, Is it a reflection on the hurricane?” Burr asked, trying not to poke too far.

“Well… Okay it’s like, really stupid…” John admitted, Burr just nodded and continued to inspect the art.

“Does not affect me in any way.” Burr answered flatly.

“During the hurricane… I saw a canoe, the canoe i drew out there, there were two people on it and one of them… They glowed, blue, they had an aura around them it was crazy, and they both just… Disappeared and then the storm went away after that, they’re like a miracle ship, or an acid trip.” John explained, Burr gave him an off-putting look, but there was no disbelief on it, nor was there any belief for that matter, he was just neutral.

“Intriguing.” Burr spoke once more, placing the papers back on the desk.

“Well, you have fun drawing your miracle boat, actually, do you mind if I show these to Washington? They’re really well drawn…” Burr suggested, reaching for the papers again, John considered this before nodding. 

“Just… Don’t tell him about the actual reason I drew it, It just sounds too weird.” John pushed the papers towards burr, he picked them up carefully, trying his hardest not to do anything to it, like it was an ancient artifact.

“John, I like your art.” Burr said with a smile, a genuine smile, as he left the room, closing the door quickly yet gently. 

“Thank you.” John whispered as the door clicked shut, his mind swirling with fantasies of magical boats and glowing sailors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I listened to No Good Deed the entire time I was writing this, it makes the crashing water so much more intense, lord help me.


	4. Meet me Inside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet him inside, meet him inside....

“Alexander are you alright?” Philip asked, placing a gentle hand oh the man in question’s shoulder, it was tense and tight, if you were to punch it incorrectly your knuckles would break. Philip shivered at the thought.

“M’ fine, just kind of… overworked myself?” Alexander reassured the boy with a gentle pat to his puffy, curly hair, Philip giggled and leaned into the touch as Alexander slowly stood, gently taking the ropes from Philip and grabbing the paddle with a shaky hand, before realization struck.

The Storm was chasing them, they needed to turn back or it would lead them back to Nevis and St Croix, and destroy their home for the second time, they needed to go back to the pirates.

Alexander quickly turned the paddle to the left and watched at the boat turned around, close to tipping, before Philip jumped on the other side stabilizing it. 

“Why are we turning, Papa?” Philip asked, confusion in his voice.

“The storm is chasing us Mijo, we have to fight it.” Alexander answered, he couldn’t hide the tiny flinch of fear his hands made when he decided to fight it, even Philip, the impressionable child looked concerned.

“Papa, we need to hunt!” Philip protested as Alex checked the angle of the sun, then proceeded to internally map out where the stars should be, mentally checking off that he found Gemini and turned the boat to the right slightly.

“There is an Island by Gemini, remember stopping at it a year ago when we were in cold waters?” Philip recalled the time they went to cold waters in summer, it was still colder than Caribbean waters and they had managed to stock pretty well, but there were pirates on the island when they had visited, they had spoke of a thing called interrogation, or was it immigration? Philip didn’t quite remember.

“Yes, I remember.” Philip nodded, Alexander smiled as they sailed through the night, Alexander adjusting the boat slightly to be directly on track with Gemini, even after years of sailing alone with Philip it was still hard to find every constellation in sunlight, making it a time usually spent wasted on eating and planning and hunting when they ran out of food.   
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────  
“We’re going to be stopping by a nearby Island, might take about a week to get there, but we heard reports of shark finners around the area, this is not going to be a small mission, boys and girls, and once this assignment is finished, our ship will be returned to the dock and a few of us will transport to squadron 56-B, others will have a break for about two months before we hit water again, understood?” Washington explained, everyone was in the dining hall when Washington entered.

“Sir yessir!” Everyone shouted at once, even though this was simply an animal preserving group it was treated like some kind of military to squad 87-C.

“Alright, also, John I want you in my office after we eat, and after John I need Gil in with me to discuss a few things.” Washington noted before exiting the dining hall, leaving the boys and girls to their lonesome.

“OooOo, John what did you do?” Hercules teased, to be honest, John was shaking in his boots, was it because of the drawings Burr had taken that he hadn’t seen back, or was he in trouble, he didn’t want to leave 87-C squadron, but he feared it might be the case.

“I… I don’t know!” John admitted, looking rather shocked.

“Don’t worry him Hercules! You’re making mon petit tortue anxious!” Lafayette scolded, squeezing Herc’s hand roughly under the table, Hercules winced.

“Geez, Laf, ease up I was just joking with the kid!” Herc protested, once Laf was satisfied with the discomfort on Herc’s face, he released his crushing grip.

“Anyways, John, anything you’d like to talk about before your big discussion?” Lafayette asked, gently resting his elbow on the table so he could support his lazy head on his hand.

“Well, I had a cool dream last night.” John thought, Burr gave a slightly reassuring smile from beside Lafayette, Hercules and Laf just raised their eyebrows.

“Do tell.” Burr urged.

“Well, it was about a boat, a… How do I say it? Outrigger canoe, I think it was called and there were two men on it and one was glowing and controlling the weather and he showed me a place with a bunch of giant glowing turtles it was brilliant! And like, I could turn into this big shark! Like a hammerhead with a little rip in it’s fin, not sure why I remember that specifically but it felt so real!” John said dreamily, Lafayette and Hercules both nodded.

“Sounds interesting my friend, now you need to go, my father is calling you!” Lafayette reminded.   
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────  
“Sir.” John straightened his back and puffed his chest out, drawing his shoulders behind him.

“John, take a seat.” The commander ordered, John did so, taking a seat in the comfortable red chair.

“You asked to see me, sir?” John asked, looking a tad nervous as Washington pulled out three papers from his desk.

“I wanted to talk to you about your drawings, John.” Washington spoke in a serious tone, spreading them out across the table like they were evidence for some kind of trial.

“W-what about them.” John’s leg was bouncing uncontrollably from under the desk, it was strangely comforting to John for some strange reason.

“This canoe, the markings on the sail, do you know what it is?” Washington asked, like he was a tutor.

“A Lion? A glowy Lion… I- if it’s some kind of bad symbol I’ll eras-”

“No, no, I was just surprised to see it from you, this Lion on the boat is a mark of royalty in old Caribbean history, I’m surprised you’d never heard of it, seeing how in this other picture you drew a shark from the same history, the same bloodline for that matter!” Washington pointed to the photo in question, a hammerhead with a small rip on its fin and multiple swirling patterns on it, the same one that he could become in his dream.

“Oh, so I accidentally made like, Caribbean stuff?” John dumbly answered, lying between his teeth, none of it was accidental, besides the shark.

“It’s a rare thing to accidentally do.” Washington half-accused John, his face flushed.

“Well… Um… To be honest… IkindofsawaboatoutthereliketheoneIdrewduringthehurricane.” John blurted out, faster than he had ever spoken before. 

“Their bloodline is bad news to sharks, John.” Washington deadpanned.

“I-I’m sorry.” John was shaking like a leaf.

“You did nothing wrong, just if we see the boat again, god forbid, just be careful, John, if you join their side you lost a powerful ally.” Washington spoke in a calm yet rather intimidating tone.

“Yessir.” John answered.

“Call in Laf, would you?” Washington asked in a more cheerful voice.

“Yessir.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OooOOooOOoOo~ Stuffs gonna happen soon!


	5. Run boy Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> p l o t
> 
> yes this fic is strange and I know my Mismatched fans are probably super weirded out, IM SORRY!!!!!! MISMATCHED SEQUEL + SPINOFF WILL BE OUT SOON MY COLLAB PARTNER IS GOIN THRU A STRESSFUL TIME SO IMMA GIVE HER TIME
> 
> SHOWER KENZIE WITH LOVE AND IT MIGHT BE OUT SOONER IDK!

The sail to the island in question was long, too long, Alexander could feel his stomach begin to close up, every time he stuffed food in his mouth he longed to cough it back up again, it’s all his mind told him to do, but he kept it in, he could tell Philip was noticing, but he’d never stated outright that his yellow fever was returning, nor did he plan to in the near future.

“Mi hijo, despierta.” Alex gently shook the sleeping boy, he stirred gently in his sleep before opening his bright eyes, Philip yawned out loud before sitting upright on the boat as they finally approached the island.

“Español, supongo?” Philip questioned, Alexander nodded, helping the child to his feet.

“No dejes mi vista.” Alexander ordered, gently gripping Philip’s arm as they docked The Lion, the two dragging it on shore, Alexander looking rather pale as they sat it down, he was in no shape to properly be lifting anything, but the nine-year-old was just as incapable. 

 

“Si alguien nos habla en inglés, responde en español.” Alexander spoke softly as they made their way into the cold damp forest.

They had gathered stuff multiple times at different Island, it was uncommon for the two to be unsure about a certain kind of plant or berry, but they lived by one law, if you don’t know what it is, flee.

Soon enough, the storage inside the ship was stuffed with different types of fruits and roots, they had disposed of any and all rotting food inside of the ships, burying them in the ground and wishing them a good life for when they reincarnate, a ritual they had performed many times.

“Bien, salgamos de aquí.” Philip smiled, closing up the hatch, Alexander was trying is best to push the boat into the water, wheezing and coughing under his breath as he did so, his bare, tanned feet dug firmly into the cold, damp, sand. 

“Sí” Alex wheezed, leaping onto the boat as it broke into the water, Philip had began to tie up the sail for their journey, Alex had grabbed the paddle out of it’s normal position and freed it from it’s holder, paddling with shaky arms out into deeper water, before he spotted it.

“Philip, get down from there.” Alexander ordered, Philip quickly slid down the pole, jumping onto the base of the boat, there was a tug at Alexander’s back, where his tattoo was.

“Alex?” Philip asked, Alex grunted and curled up into a small ball on the base of the boat. 

“Pipa, it’s the…” Alex quickly sputtered out before falling into a coughing fit, Philip could feel it slightly, like his freckles were burning.

“The Sharks.” Philip concluded, quickly grabbing the paddle and paddling the boat closer to the figure in the distance, it was a hunting boat, three men were on there, chuckling to themselves as they released more longlines, Philip set the boat there, putting the paddle gently in Alexander’s arms as he slowly began to slip into the water, letting the call of the sea creatures lead him to the long lines.

“I’m gonna get you out of here.” Philip spoke, his formed gills flaring as he spoke, Philip kicked his way over to the lines, freeing the sharks first, six hammerheads all stuck to the lines, two of them dotted with patterns.

Philip wasted no time, quickly biting off each of the hooks that latched themselves to the sharks, each of the creatures began to circle around the longlines, cautiously as they began to bite off the hooks of other creatures.

That’s when John swam into view. The large Hammerhead quickly began to circle Philip, as to warn him of something, he had finished freeing most of the animals when a large shadow obscured the water, the only thing Philip could see was the brilliant blue glow of himself and John, John quickly began to swim to The Lion, Philip followed the shark as a few bodies dropped into the water behind them, he could hear yelling from above the water, Alexander couldn’t fend for the boat by himself. 

“Papa!” Philip whisper-yelled, climbing onto the boat Philip was unsurprised when he saw Alex, he was still in an unflattering fetal position, grunting in pain.

“Papá, tenemos que salir de aquí.” Philip informed, gently pushing Alexander to the center of the boat as he tied the paddle into position, tying a neat knot, then grabbing the rope and pulling it quickly, the boat zipped forward, then he realized, both of the boats were forward, he couldn’t rock the boat too much with Alex in that condition, he had no strength to stabilize himself and Alex as it turned, he’d have to go through them.

“Hey! You!” an angry man boomed from the red boat, pointing at The Lion as they sped closer.

“You little brat! You cut our lines!” Another one from the red boat accused, ducking to avoid a sudden barrage of water shot out from the green boat.

“Lo siento, no entiendo idioma idiota!” Philip stuck out his tongue as he gripped the rope tighter, too tight, the boat rocked back and forth, fighting itself to choose a direction, Philip quickly fixed his error, but in return the white boat began to rock closer, the men on it hooting and hollering as they tipped the canoe, leaving Alexander and Philip stuck in the water. 

Philip had no problem switching to his underwater form, their power was stronger when sharks were around, and especially when John was, in fact it felt even stronger now, yet Alex was still struggling to get his gills out, choking in the water as they slowly and painfully began to rip through his neck.

“¡Aférrate! ¡John está aquí!” Philip reassured, grabbing Alexander as they began to sink deeper, the canoe was also sinking overhead, Philip gasped as he dragged Alexander out of the way of the sinking canoe, they were doomed if Alex was struggling to get his gills out.

There was a splash overhead, followed by another one, everything was happening so fast, too fast, Alex had finally gotten his gills out but he was struggling to keep them from reverting, Philip was clueless as to why this was all happening now, but soon enough he was grabbed by strong arms, Philip flailed in panic, the white boat pirates had gotten him, he was sure of it, in his struggle he could see another man carrying Alexander to the surface, Philip flailed more, cursing in spanish at the man as they surfaced, Philip retracted his gills in a hurry and stared at the man, still splashing aimlessly as he was dragged onto the green boat.

“Calm down.” The man shushed Philip, his voice was snooty yet sincere and calming at the moment, the man was Thomas.

“devuélveme a papá!” The boy demanded as he got carried to some kind of room, or possible cell.

“Can you speak English?” Thomas asked, ruffling the boy’s hair as he got set down on a comfortable bed, shaking with anger and confusion.

“U-um…” Philip wasn’t sure how to respond, he quickly scurried to the corner of the bed, shaking in his boots as Thomas approached once more, offering his arms out, was it to be strangled or hugged? Philip wasn’t sure until he was wrapped into an uncomfortable hug.

“pouvez-vous parler français?” Thomas tried, he’d always been good around kids, having a few sibling himself.

“I speak English fine.” Philip grumbled, Thomas let go of the boy when he felt the shivering stop.

“Good, I’m Thomas, part of the Greenpeace organization, we protect and save animals like-”

“Sharks” Philip deadpanned, Thomas nodded and watched as a smile spread across the boy’s face.

“I do not speak my name to you yet, you may call me Pipa for now, I’d like to ask for you to return my father to me.” Philip puffed out his chest as he spoke, his eyebrows furrowed. 

“He’ll be back in a moment, they need to make sure he can breathe, kid. It’s called CPR, he was drowning.” Thomas explained as another man entered the room.

“Thomas, bring him out to the other one.” James spoke softly, walking over to Philip cautiously before retreating after seeing Philip tense, Thomas simply sighed and offered his arms out to Philip, the boy accepted and Thomas carried him out to Alexander.

“¡PAPÁ!” Philip shrieked in horror, Alexander was on some kind of stretcher in the middle of the boat; The redcoat boat retreated minutes ago.

Thomas let Philip down, everyone stood back as Philip ran to Alexander, who was weakly coughing on the stretcher, clutching his ribs as he took in shaky breaths, there were two men holding little first aid packs, one of them was dripping wet and still in a wetsuit, him and Philip locked eyes, something clicked inside of his brain, this man just looked like him but older, but he had a certain… Aura, something very new yet familiar to Philip.

“Mi hijo, corre…” Alex pleaded, grabbing Pip’s hand as he winced in pain.

“I’m sorry kid they gotta go take him to the medical room on the boat, we need to get him back to shore-” Jefferson started, putting a gentle hand on Philip’s shoulder when Alex shrieked in fear.

“¡CORRE!” Alex shouted, quickly regretting that decision, his rib had been snapped from the CPR, he knew there was no need for them to get his lungs pumping or heart or whatever they had tried to do, John had saved him… John had always saved him in these situations, as well as his mother, but this time John was closer, but he still did not trust these men with Philip, Alex didn’t fight the tears that rolled down his face as he was carried away from his only companion for five years, his son, his mijo. 

“Run Pipa…” Alex pleaded one more time before he blacked out from reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #PrayForAlex


	6. It Wont be Long Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Philip and Alex meet John Laurens and confusion ensues.

“Hey buddy, you alright?” John slowly began to open the door to Philip and Alex’s room, they were only two hours away from the shore, John and the Schuyler’s had done all the work they possibly could to get Alexander to a better condition, but while doing that they found his water pressure injury and possible influenza. 

Philip sat silently on him and his guardian’s bed, massaging Alex’s hands as he laid unconscious on the bed. Philip had spent the last five hours praying to the gods, goddesses and even some demigods. Not willing to spend time getting acquainted with the greenpeace pirates besides Thomas and the one who he referred to as James. 

“Thomas dijo que hablas español” John attempted once again to reach out to Philip, he made no effort to fight the fact that John was nearing, instead he looked oddly relaxed yet confused.

“cuál es tu nombre?” Philip asked, his voice devoid of any emotion, he seemed empty and it pained John, he could tell the boy was young and the two had been sailing for ages, even not knowing the two personally he could feel their connection whenever they were in the same place. It was almost eerie to see Philip acting like that

“John Laur-”

“John?” Philip cut him off smoothly, his glance redirecting to John’s face instead of Alex’s limp form, his eyebrows in a crease.

“Sí.” John responded, Philip squinted at the man, inspecting him before speaking again.

“My Papá talks about you lots, I know stories about you! I’ve seen you before you- you saved me I- I didn’t know could look like this!” Philip rambled, switching to english to talk out of nowhere, John chuckled awkwardly at the boy.

“You got the wrong John, bud. Thomas was the one who saved you, not me.” John approached Philip even more, he looked just as confused as John did.

“B-but… Papá said y-you make us stronger and you are! I can feel it! You’re no good at lying mr. John!” Philip accused, pointing his finger at Laurens as he spoke, John chuckled once more at the kid’s attitude it reminded him of himself.

“I don’t think I’m lying little man but whatever you think!” John gave in and watched as the boy’s face lit up- actually no, his whole body lit up in a cyan-blue aura, the same aura John had seen the mystery boat person glowing with.

“You’re the mystery boat people…” John whispered under his breath, Philip kept giggling to himself as he glowed, literally, at John, wrapping his arms around the man and smiling wide.

“Are ya gonna help fix Papá? With all your cool secret stuff? B-because I’d like that lot’s Mr. John!” Philip looked up at John with big and hopeful eyes, John gave him a lighthearted smile before giving him a playful boop to the nose 

“How about this, when we get back to land, your Papá will probably have to go into a room where people all make him feel better and while those people do that I can show you how they do it in another room.” Philip frowned and lost his glow at the mention of leaving Alexander’s side.

“B-but _you_ need to save Papá! A-and I need to be with Papá at the same time!” Philip protested, retreating to grab Alex’s hands again as he stirred in his sleep.

“Okay, well… I can probably help, I’m not too sure I can but I’ll try if that’s what you want kid, but you can’t be in there while they help him, it’s against the rules, you’re gonna have to wait for a little while.” John frowned as he spoke, he really didn’t want Philip getting upset with the news, but there he was, shakily laying next to Alexander and trying to suck in all the tears.

“I’m sorry kiddo, don’t cry I’m so sorry, do you need a hug?” John offered, holding out his arms, Philip just buried his head into Alex’s chest gently causing the sleeping man to stir even more.

“I want my Papá, I wanna go home with Papá…” Philip sobbed, John’s heart broke as he watched the boy, he quickly scooted over and rubbed little circles into the boy’s back as he hiccupped and sobbed.

“Your Papá’s gonna be okay buddy, once you all get fixed up we can bring you both home if you’d like. Where do you live?” John asked, hoping it would catch Philip’s attention.

“Nevis, it was hit by a big bad storm many cold seasons ago…” Philip explained, choking on his tears once more and breaking into even louder sobs.

“I’m sorry…” John murmured, pulling Philip and Alex into a gentle hug.

“P-pip…” Alex whispered, John and Philip’s attention both redirected at Alexander, Philip sniffling as he hugged Alex close inside of John’s large hug.

“Papá?” Philip asked, gently nuzzling Alex as he woke, making small and dry coughs.

“M-mijo… Mijo… run…” Alex stuttered out, opening his eyes in a rush, he shook Philip gently, tears flowing down his face.

“No Papá, we’re safe, we’re with John and h-he is gonna make you better!” Philip explained, stroking Alex’s hair gently.

“J-John..?” Alex gasped as he felt even more arms around him, he coughed roughly as Philip embraced him a bit tighter, unaware of the consequences it might have on his lungs.

“Um, hey dude.” John awkwardly introduced himself, Alex shuffled around in the embrace to face John, raising his unstable hands wordlessly up to John’s face and gently caressing his features, eyes filled with wonder and awe as they inspected every little detail of his face, every freckle and every curl in his puffy brown-black hair.

“John.” Alex repeated, this time with no question or emphasis. Philip was also staring at him, the two washed away boys simply stared at John for minutes on end, John stayed deadly still, there was something eerie yet comforting about their confused smiles, their eyes laced with traces of disbelief and their eyebrows furrowed.

“D-do you know who we are?” Alex asked in a hopeful tone, his hands trembling as he pulled them away from John’s face. John paused, what were they talking about? John simply shook his head no, causing Alex and Philip’s hopeful looks to fade once more as they buried into each other’s bodies, John leaned in as well, hugging and rocking the two back and forth. 

“Papá there are other pirates on this boat. John can’t remember us he-” Philip started in a frantic whisper.

“Mi hijo, John can help us, and we will help him remember.” Alex responded, running a weak and shaky hand through Philip’s hair.

“I- okay… So I’m not sure what I’m missing here...?” John spoke, he truly wanted an answer out of the two, they spoke so poetically, every expression one of them made the other mimicked, they spoke with the same confidence, the same style of speaking, switching between spanish and english like clockwork, but that still didn’t stop the confusion that flooded John about the two.

“I-I’m Alexander, Alexander Hamilton.” Alex squeaked, his voice still a hushed croaky whisper, it looked like he was wincing every time he breathed, it was painful to watch to say the least.

“I’m Philip Hamilton, or at least I say I’m a Hamilton… Don’t tell our names to others okay John.” Philip ordered in a rather threatening voice for a nine-year-old. 

If John were to say the names meant nothing, he’d be lying. He could feel a tug at his heart as they spoke, like he was also some part of their duo, but it didn’t feel right, like he was missing a part of the equation.

“Are you aware that you are the son of the old chief of Nevis, y-you got reincarnated as a shark” Philip continued, John blinked, nope, this was getting strange, a thought yanked into his thoughts, the shark he saw in his dreams? Washington said something about it being a symbol… Were they speaking the truth?

“Y-you are John right? You… You saved us you have to be…” Alexander continued he let out a few rough coughs and began to tremble.

“I don’t know.” John responded, looking down apologetically as the door slowly creaked open from behind the group. 

“The boat’s docked, we need to get the older one to a hospital.” Lafayette said as he entered, staring strangely at the huddle, he slowly backed up to the doorframe again.

“You got them John?” Laf spoke again, a lighthearted smile creeping up his face as he spoke, John nodded as he untangled himself from the pile, he quickly wrapped his arms around Alexander as he lifted the man up bridal-style, he cringed at how unnaturally light Alexander was, it was like lifting a child Philip’s age. 

“Alright, Alex, hang on there.” John gave Alexander a weak smile as he rushed out of the room, Lafayette began to run ahead of them, John jogged at a brisk yet steady pace as Philip ran close behind, running barefoot off the dock and around the greenpeace facility

“How are you holding up back there mes amies?” Lafayette asked as they neared the small hospital on the greenpeace grounds, Alex let out a pained whimper from behind Lafayette, John’s breath hitched hearing it, he quickly slowed to a slow sprint.

“Decent?” John was truly unsure, Philip was only two feet behind them but he managed to catch up in a flash after hearing his father’s distress. They finally made it to the door and practically kicked it open, John rushing Alexander and Philip in, the lady at the front desk blinked before quickly pressing a button on a little device in her hand, a few nurses began to flood the lobby, John quickly transported Alex into their arms as they began to rush into another room.

“John! You have to go with them!” Philip urged, John frowned and picked the boy up gently.

“I will in a moment, I just need them to clean him up and if it’s as bad as I suspect it is, I’ll have to help, he’s gonna be okay Philip, you can trust the other doctors for now.” John reassured, running a hand through Philip’s hair, making sure not to use the two’s names in front of Lafayette for now, unsure as to why they wanted them to be hidden but still obliging as to not make Philip uncomfortable. 

“Oui, your companion is in very good hands Mon petit ami” Lafayette continued as they began to walk over to the comfortable seats in the waiting room, John looked up at Lafayette and the two exchanged glances, John’s expression told Lafayette more about his feelings that words sometimes, and right now it was saying ‘Take care of him for a moment, he doesn’t trust anyone’, Lafayette nodded as John let Philip down.

“I need to go get changed so I can help your Papá, Lafayette is good, you can trust him” John smiled weakly at Philip.

“O-okay…” Philip frowned, looking at Lafayette with only a tiny bit of trust in his eyes.

“You look like Thomas.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #PrayForAlex
> 
> ALSO SORRY I DIDNT UPDATE YESTERDAY I FELL ASLEEP AND HAD A BUNCH OF STUFF LIKE TAEKWONDO!


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can't think of a title
> 
> #PrayforAlex #PrayforAlex ! !!

“W-what is this?” Philip asked, pointing at the tray that Lafayette had placed gently on his lap, a cream-cheese bagel was set on his plate as well as a juice box, carrot sticks and a cookie. Lafayette had gotten Washington to make lunch since Philip wasn’t leaving the hospital and Lafayette wasn’t going to leave the kid alone.

“It’s your lunch, mon ami!” Lafayette exclaimed as he picked up his own bagel, biting off a small and neat chunk from the side before chewing silently. 

Philip on the other hand picked up his bagel with a bit of hesitation, he gently picked at the cream cheese filling before opening one half of the bagel into two parts, inspecting all the crumbs and cheese before taking an experimental bite, then proceeding to shove it all into his mouth with little to no manners, eating his bagel like it was the last catch of the season.

“Slow down! You’re going to get a stomach ache!” Lafayette chuckled, watching as Philip slowly began to slow his chewing down to an acceptable speed, looking down at his feet in embarrassment as he swallowed. 

“No need to be ashamed mon ami, you probably have not had a lunch like this in a while? Non?” Lafayette smiled, placing a gentle hand on Philip’s back as his head jerked back up.

“Where do you catch one of these?” He pointed at the final scraps of his bagel, Lafayette snickered a small bit, but at the same time he could feel a tad bit of hope drain from his body, like he hoped this kid would have known everything he did as a young child.

“Well, my friend, you can’t catch anything on this plate, most of it is farmed… How about this, I will find you a nice documentary about food and farming and when your guardian is out of the hospital we can watch it, or whenever visiting hours are over you can come home with me and my father and I can teach you things.” Lafayette offered, hoping that this would be enough to teach the child a few things, and maybe even get them to join the team if the time came.

“When Papá is done today we can watch it!” Philip smiled, even though it had been a good two hours with little to no news on Alex’s condition he still had hope, Lafayette admired it.

“Your Papá might have to stay in the hospital for a little while, and you might not be able to stay with him the whole time so how about when we get the okay that he is going to be alright then we can give him a quick visit and go to my place, okay?” Philip nodded at that, Lafayette smiled and watched as the boy continued to chew at his food at a much faster pace than Lafayette could even think of eating at. 

“Hey Pipa!” Thomas grinned, walking into view with James on his left, Thomas finger gunned at Laf before sitting down on the other side of Philip, James sat down next to Thomas.

“Mr Tommy!” Philip smiled before he finished chewing up one of his carrot sticks, his cookie was still left untouched on the plate.

“How’re you doing?” Thomas asked, messing up the boy’s hair with his hand, causing Philip to giggle as he lifted the cookie in his hands, taking a small nibble, then a huge bite, his eyes closed as he let out a small satisfied chirp before giving a thumbs up, Thomas and Lafayette both chuckled.

“I see you met my twin, Laf.” Thomas grinned, Lafayette scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Thomas do not confuse the poor boy! We are not twins, we are cousins.” Lafayette corrected, Philip had no clue as to what they were talking out, he only knew that brothers, sisters and sibs existed, and had no idea as to what a twin, or a cousin was.

“Did you meet James yet?” Thomas asked, breaking the odd hiccup the conversation had. James peeked out from behind Thomas’ side and waved at Philip.

“Hi!” Philip smiled, waving back at James.

“Hello, I’m James, what’s your name?” James smiled, expecting a straight up answer from the boy, instead his brow furrowed as he took another bite, turning away stubbornly.

“Papá said I shouldn’t give away my name to people until he met them, call me Pipa for now.” Philip grumbled, James gave Thomas a confused expression, which Thomas came back with a face reading ‘we don’t even know where he’s from, don’t expect much from him yet.’ James sighed and decided to ask another less-personal(?) question.

“How old are you?” He finally decided.

“I’m nine winters old! Papá is nine ten winters! But he always says he is smarter than a nine ten winters but I don’t know what that means yet!” Philip answered with enthusiasm that appeared from seemingly nowhere.

“That’s great!” Lafayette smiled with encouragement, urging for Thomas to ask more questions, as a ‘nobel’ frenchmen he prided in not being nosey, yet there he was, begging for answers. 

“How long have you and your Papá been sailing?” Thomas supplied, that caused Lafayette’s face to quickly heat up with panic, but instead Philip just smiled wider, he quickly began to count on his fingers before holding up four.

“Five winters!” he answered, staring at his hand for a moment before putting the fifth finger up, James chuckled lightly before breaking out into a coughing fit, Thomas looked awkwardly at the boy for a moment before turning back to James.

“Are you okay Mr. Jam?” Philip asked, Thomas turned his head back once more.

“He’ll be fine.” Thomas grinned as he helped stand James up, Lafayette simply put a comforting hand on Philip’s shoulder as Thomas escorted James out, waving apologetically at Philip and Laf.  
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────  
John stared down at the once-again unconscious Alexander, the nurses had cleaned him up and attached multiple tubes to his body, he glanced down at the clipboard they had put in his arms.

__  
Patient name: N/A  
Age: N/A (14-19)  
Residence: N/A  
Phone Number: N/A  
Emergency Contacts: N/A  
Any Medication: N/A

_Report:_  
internal water pressure injury in right leg  
Influenza  
Possible brain damage / dementia  
Unidentified liquid in blood (possibly due to drugs)  


He’d only known the water damage and possible influenza, but adding the risk of dementia onto the list was absolutely heartbreaking to John, this was _his_ mystery boat man, he’d only heard the man talk for a good twenty minutes before they rushed him into a medically induced sleep. 

The Unidentified liquid had to be something to do with the glow that both Philip and Alex had shown off, John was sure of it, it almost made him want to scream at how little the other nurses knew about the situation, not saying that he knew any better besides the names and glow. The other issue he’d have to address when this was over is what the hell is up with the glowing anyways. 

But for now, he had other things to worry about, first order of business would be addressing the fact that his water pressure injury might spread, and if it spreads, it gets amputated, John cringed at the thought as he approached Alexander cautiously, with steady hands he began to search the leg for the vein, every water pressure injury had a long vein visible somewhere, he just needed to find it and find where it ended.

Bingo, right on his calf he spotted a long blue vein visible under the skin. Following it was almost painful to John, cringing as it got deadly close to his knee, he silently prayed to whatever god might be out there or whatever there is that it wouldn’t spread, but that was a rare occurrence.

But at the same time, Alexander and Philip were both obviously rare, they glow for god sake! how many times did he need to remind himself of that?! 

“Okay Alex, surgery tomorrow.” John whispered as if the man was awake, he groaned at the thought of them placing him on a bed and cutting him open like some sort of science experiment, finding some new crazy thing about Alexander and sending him off to some _actual_ lab, then John would never see him again outside of the news.

‘The crazy glowing man and his son!’ Headlines would read, John was sure of it, and even though it pained him too much, he’d have to be the one doing the procedure, it was the only way his mystery boat man, would be one-hundred and two percent safe from the crazy imaginary scientists.

“Aaaaand now I gotta tell Phil.” John frowned, it had been two hours of cleaning Alexander up and checking him for damage and testing him that he’d completely forgot to tell Lafayette and Philip of Alexander’s condition, they were probably scared half to death. 

Philip hadn’t even eaten lunch yet, had he? John was unsure, he quickly began to calm his thoughts, taking a moment to process everything up to this point.

_Are you aware that you are the son of the old chief of Nevis, y-you got reincarnated as a shark_

John gave one last glance to Alexander, inspecting his features in the light, he seemed almost too good to be true, his features perfect yet thin, his hair long and slightly curled and damp and his too-thin frame would look adorable in a large sweater, John smiled sweetly at him before exiting the room, taking a large inhale through his nose and releasing it through his mouth, then he walked to the waiting room.

“JOHN!” Philip squealed, practically flying out of his seat and into John’s arms for a long embrace, Lafayette smiled at the pair before mouthing a few words to him.

‘What’s the damage, heather?’ Lafayette had mouth, John struggled to stop the snort that threatened to bubble out, he recollected himself as he repositioned the giggling child in his arms and mouthed back.

‘Needs surgery, might have malaria’ Lafayette nodded with a frown.

“How’s Papá?” Philip asked with a smile.

“He’s resting, he’s gonna need to stay here for a little while, but you can go see him tomorrow afternoon okay?” John smiled, sugarcoating all the hard details the kid would have little to no clue about and John would hate to explain.

“O-okay, Laf said we were going to his house to watch a dock hue entry!” Philip exclaimed Lafayette smiled as he lifted himself up from his seat, stretching out his arms and legs before walking over to John and Pip.

“Oui, a documentary about farming, now we must hurry if we want to eat my mother’s magnifique cooking!” Lafayette teased, leading the group out the door.

“John, when is tomorrow afternoon?” Philip asked as they walked out to Lafayette’s parked SUV.

“A little while after the moon rises then goes back down, the sun should be highest at tomorrow afternoon,” John explained, rubbing circles into Philip’s back as Lafayette unlocked his SUV and dove into the front seat, John decided to sit in the back with Philip, he helped buckle the boy’s seatbelt before they drove off. 

“What are we in? Is it a land boat?” Philip asked, John smiled.

“It’s called a car, it helps us move around on land faster, so you could say it’s like a land boat.” Lafayette answered, Philip nodded, his head pressed up against the window, he stared in awe as he saw each and every building, he remembered seeing buildings when he was younger, before Alexander took him on the boat, he remembers his Mama… No those were bad memories, Philip didn’t like those memories, so he decided to focus on the inside of the SUV instead until he felt drowsy, Philip yawned audibly and closed his eyes, resting his head on the comfortable seat before dozing off.

“Night Mi hijo.” John whispered, a small part of him internally yelled at him for saying ‘son’ in spanish to the boy, just something about it seemed right and as far as he could tell Philip had no objections to it, he just smiled and stroked the sleeping boy’s hair as their arrived at the large Washington household.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love fluff mixed with a small bit of angst,,,
> 
> you know what else I love?
> 
> *throws axe* Fan pandering and turning my original ideas which originally had original characters into fan-pandering fics then watch as people give me weird looks at the concept that's so far away from the actual fanbase it isn't even funny
> 
> THIS IS WHY THE STORY IS STRANGE!!!! If u guys still like my Hamilton I have more Mismatched things tomorrow (I PROMISE FOR REAL I WONT FALL ASLEEP AND FORGET THIS TIME) and other ideas soooon, but if u want more of my strange fantasy just tell me and I'll introduce my original character dudes!


	8. In the place to be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this fic is weird... I'll end it quick if y'all want

“Morning Alex.” John sighed, walking into his room in his uniform on, John was assigned to prep him for surgery early in the morning, he’d been given a checklist like he was normally given.

As he tidied up Alexander all he could think of was Philip, he had fallen asleep in the car and had woken up in the middle of the night because of a nightmare, a pretty nasty one at that, he was crying and yelling for his Papa, John had calmed the boy down to a stable state and ended up lying in bed with the boy until he was asleep, it was almost like he was some sort of new parental figure to Philip. 

He frowned all morning when he woke up, it broke John’s heart that Alexander was now trapped in the hospital and Philip wasn’t even allowed to see him till noon, not like that was a problem, when he left the building for work he was still sleeping next to him peacefully. The boy was exhausted, but he’d be in good hands with the Washingtons and Gilbert.

Alexander stirred in his sleep as he was being prepped, John felt horrid that he had to give Alexander another dose of the sleeping medication, but he did so anyways, god forbid if Alexander woke up during surgery. 

John smiled weakly as he tied Alexander’s hair back in a neat and tight bun, that would keep his hairs from drifting all over the place during the procedure, and with that he was done, he hesitated before giving Alex a small kiss to the knuckles before calling the main desks, and soon enough the surgeons had flooded the room and taken Alexander out. 

Now if only he could get back in bed before Philip opened his eyes, that would be a miracle. John made his way to the lobby, checking the waiting room for any signs of life, before making his way to the front desk where Eliza Schuyler was sitting and filling out paperwork, a cup of nice warm coffee sitting next to her, she looked up at him with a large smile on her cheerful face.

“Good morning John!” She greeted, John smiled and leaned up against the desk.

“Morning ‘Liza, mind if I chat with you for a moment?” John asked, Eliza simply nodded and pushed her paperwork to the side in a neat pile, she clicked her pen closed then proceeded to stare up at John with comforting eyes.

“Of course John! Fire away!” She ushered for him to begin, he simply sighed, thinking of a way to word this before firing right into his small speech.

“Well, the new patient I brought in… I- he was speaking to me on the boat with his son, Philip… Oh dammit I wasn’t supposed to say his name, don’t tell him I told you, he wants it secret for some reason…” John rubbed his eyes in annoyance at his own ignorance.

“I won’t don’t worry John! Anyways, he was speaking to you with his son.” She pushed him back on track once more.

“He… He kept saying stuff like I was reincarnated as a shark and… I know it’s their culture and such since they definitely aren’t American, I mean, we found them on an outrigger canoe and it looks like they’ve been on the water for years, but… Just… I- I know it sounds weird but, I believe them Eliza.” He forced out, cringing at how horribly stupid he sounded, but Eliza didn’t laugh at him or judge him, she simply took a minute to ponder something before typing something up on her computer and ushering John to join her. 

“W-what is it?” John asked, shuffling his way behind the desk and next to Eliza, who had simply pulled up google for him.

“We’re gonna look it up! So, what did they say to you, exactly, besides the reincarnated as a shark.” She smiled brightly, no trace of judgement in her voice.

“Um… Something about the old son of the chief of Nevil? I think, no, no, It was Nevis.” John corrected, Eliza typed in ‘Nevis Chief’ and quickly a few results appeared, she clicked on the first one, a wikipedia page titled ‘Nevis Chiefs’ the website looked rather bland besides a small blurb and a link to another article titled ‘Henry Laurence’ she clicked it rather quickly.

“Henry Laurence, Ancient chief of Nevis according to common speculation is responsible for his son John Laurence’s death by throwing him into the water after giving him a tattoo of a rat.” Eliza read out loud, John cringed at how eerie the whole story was, John Laurence was really close to Laurens, he could feel his freckles burn as she clicked the link to John Laurence’s page.

“John Laurence, son of Henry Laurence was executed in the BC era due to some sort of affair-like obsession with sharks, he was given an unholy tattoo of a rat by a Gilbert (lat name unknown), son of the tattoo artist of the colony, he was thrown into the sea the day after.” Eliza concluded, even she looked shocked at the strange resemblance between the two’s names.

“What the hell…” John squinted and read over the wikipedia article once more, making sure Eliza wasn’t playing with him, she wasn’t.

“Well John Laurens, I’d say you have some research to do!” Eliza smiled playfully, John stuck out his tongue before making his way out from behind the desk, he waved at Eliza as he exited the hospital.  
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────  
John arrived back at Gilbert’s household a good 15 minutes later, he smiled weakly as he entered his room to see Philip still sleeping soundly, he wordlessly climbed back in bed and held the child close, staring at the ceiling as he played around with Philip’s curly hair.

“John…?” Philip mumbled, slowly opening up his calm eyes.

“Morning Pipa.” John smiled as Philip hugged closer to John.

“When can I see Alex today?” Philip asked, his calm eyes turning hopeful.

“Noon, would you like to do something in the meantime?” John asked, ruffling his hair gently, Philip giggled for a few moments before letting out a loud yawn as he cuddled even closer to John, if that was even possible at this point.

“Can you take me to the water?” Philip asked in a sleepy voice, John smiled at the request. 

“Of course, we can go swimming at the beach right by the beach if you’d like, I’ll ask Gilbert if he has any old swimming trunks, you shouldn’t be getting your one pair of clothes all wet all the time, Thomas texted me that he’d go get you clothes today anyways.” John sat himself and Philip up, Philip took his large hand in his smaller one as they made their way to Gilbert’s room, John gently knocked on the door and listened close as sleepy shuffles made their way to the door.

“Oui?” Lafayatte opened the door, he was dressed in fuzzy pink pajama pants covered in little patterns of the eiffel tower dotted all over them and a white tank top, his hair was still tied into a rather messy bun.

“Do you know if you have any old swimming trunks that Pipa could wear, he wants to go swimming.” John explained, Lafayette nodded and ushered for the two to enter his room, inside there were multiple bean bag chairs in the colours of the French flag, speaking of the French flag, there were about seven of them on the walls, he had a large bed and a desk covered in papers and chargers and a huge walk-in closet that he had entered, yawning. 

“I think I should have some in here.” he explained, dragging out a large box titled ‘old clothes’ he opened it up quickly and began to search inside of it, inside were multiple old frilly and fancy outfits, as well as small t-shirts that would probably fit Pip, Lafayette may as well spare Jefferson all the effort by just passing this all down, but knowing Thomas he’d probably find a way to out-do everyone.

“Aha! Found it!” Lafayette exclaimed, pulling out a small pair of swim trunks and a t-shirt, decorated in, you guessed it, french flags, he tossed them over to John who caught them and handed them over to Philip, who looked at them strangely. 

Lafayette proceeded to throw a pair of trunks at John, they hit him straight in the face, John scoffed and peeled them off his face, shooting Lafayette a grumpy look before squeezing Pip’s hand gently as he turned his heel and walked off.

“I’ll let you go get changed in our room, alright?” John smiled as he left the room with Philip still holding his hand, they both waddled down the hall until they arrived at the door to the room they had both crashed in, John ushered for Philip to enter and he did so with no hesitation and proceeded to shut the door to change.

A Minute later Philip emerged, wearing his new swim trunks and the t-shirt he borrowed, looking as adorable as ever. John smiled, he was proud for some odd reason, it was like looking at a child of his own, he picked up Philip and twirled him around in the hall. Planting a playful kiss on his head before letting him down and going in to get changed as well, smiling as he heard Philip giggling in the hall.

“Alright Pipa! Are you ready to go swimming!” John smiled as he emerged dramatically from the bedroom, wearing his own pair of trunks and a greenpeace T-shirt, Philip nodded quickly, grabbing John’s hand and practically dragging him all the way to the car.  
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────  
Once the car was parked, John and Philip both quickly sprinted around the base’s grounds until they arrived at the small beach, with no hesitation Pip threw himself into the water and swam swiftly out into the deeper water, John followed behind him, cringing at the freezing water, how Philip managed to get in that quickly was beyond him.

“John! Come swim with the sharks!” Philip squeaked as John swam out into the deep water with Philip, confused at what he meant until he saw the fins begin to stick out of the water, John was deadly still as the graceful predators swarmed around Philip, this kid _had_ to be magic or something.

“Hi!!” Philip waved at the sharks as a few poked their heads out of the water, that’s when John saw the tattoos on the sharks, he waded in the water, dumbfounded as Philip _talked_ to these creatures, he was sitting there having a conversation with them like they were humans.

“John!!! I’m gonna call you!!! Watch!” Philip smiled as he raised his hands out of the water, connected his thumbs together and twisted them, it took him a few tries to get the cyan glow to finally appear, but when he did he smiled with glee and placed his hands in the water, John looked like he was going to cry, _this kid is magical_ he had found a magical human being.

“Philip that’s so co-” He went still when he felt smooth skin brush across his submerged hands, he looked down to see a gigantic hammerhead right here in front of him, he made a noise in audible confusion as he noticed the rip in the fin and all the tattoos. 

“I- oh lord OH MY GOD” John yelped, of course, _of course_ he was right, the shark was John Laurence, of course it was. Philip giggled as John pet the shark John in a dumbfounded. silence

“I’m a shark.” John stated.

“You are a shark!” Philip giggled, swimming toward him, the other sharks following behind him, John was just staring, he went blank and didn’t even notice that he was being dragged underwater, he felt calm, he felt safe. He could breathe.

John gasped in realization, his hands quickly darting to his neck, he had gills, he had a fin on his back, his hands were webbed, the shark John had literally entered his body- it was like magic, well no, it was magic, thoughts began to flow through his mind, memories lasting many lifetimes, memories of swimming with the sharks, memories of getting sentenced to death by his own father, memories of the tattoo artist betraying everyone and giving him a shark tattoo. 

“John?” Philip asked, shaking John as he lied silently on the ocean floor, breathing the water slowly and heavily, he quickly shook himself out of the revelation and stared at Philip with shock on his face. 

“I’m… John Laurence…” He murmured, Philip gave him a wide smile and tackled him into a big underwater hug, they moved so freely underwater it was like flying.

“You remember!” Philip exclaimed, hugging John even closer with glee, his gills flaring.

“I- I do I guess…” John said dumbly, looking at his arms, they had small faint traces of tattoo on there, they glowed slightly, the brilliant cyan glow Alex and Philip could both do.

“C’mon let’s go hunt!” Philip urged, dragging John into even deeper water, the sharks followed and directed them to a flock of fish, Philip shot at one of them like a bullet, biting at it with sharp teeth, John blinked emotionlessly, he had an urge to do the same, so he followed Philip and grabbed a fish with his own teeth, Philip smiled brightly at his catch.

They stayed like this for hours, catching fish left and right and tossing them on land, swimming around in the water with no care in the world, when they finally resurfaced on land, retracting their underwater features John could see the afternoon sun above the water, and Mulligan…

“JOHN JESUS CHRIST.” Hercules yelped, watching as John dumped the last of the catch on the shore.

“Hi Jesus!” Pip squeaked, waving at him cheerfully, Herc’s eyes darted between the two.

“You have so much explaining to do.” Hercules pointed at John almost accusingly, Philip giggled and John shrugged.

“I’m a shark?” John answered, Hercules facepalmed.

“John forgot he was reincarnated as a shark so I took him swimming and showed him that he was John Laurence and so he remembers himself again!” Philip smiled with glee, Hercules shot a look up at John.

“And so you went and killed twenty seven fish in a humanoid human-shark hybrid form.” Hercules stated, pointing down at the fish pile.

“Yes.” John deadpanned with a goofy grin.

“I- Okay… woah jesus… Okay this is a lot to take in, knowing my new close friend is a shark person.” Hercules murmured, rubbing his temples.

“I didn’t know I was a shark person either! This is just as shocking to me as it is to you Herc!” John stuck his tongue out at Hercules as he dried himself off with his towel and threw his t-shirt on, Philip did the same.

“Psst, Mr. Herc, you also look like you could be a shark person,” Philip whispered to Hercules, he looked like he was going to faint, John pat his back gently before leading Philip away, it took Herc a moment to catch up.

“I was gonna come tell you the other one’s procedure is done and can be visited now.” Herc shrugged off the other discovery surprisingly well. 

“I CAN VISIT PAPA!” Philip smiled with glee as John picked him up once more and carried him to the hospital, Hercules pushed the door open for them and they stepped in, John placed Philip down and went over to the reception desk.

“Hey Eliza, we’re here to see this pipsqueak’s pop.” John smiled smugly at Eliza, she raised her eyebrow.

“You know the room- why are you giving me that look?” Eliza asked in confusion.

“I’m John Laurence.” John grinned, focusing his newfound powers on his teeth, turning them into sharp shark-like jaws.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm Lohn Jaurence


	9. *Underwater hissing noise* Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John is stubborn and stupid :P

“Papá!” Philip grinned widely, John and Hercules behind him as he entered the room, all three of them wearing medical masks as they cautiously stepped towards the semi-conscious man.

“Can I hug him?” Philip looked hopefully at John, Hercules turned to fact John to see his reaction, instead he bit his lip and shook his head no with a frown, Philip didn’t seem too phased by it.

“His belly hurts, I don’t like being hugged when my belly hurts.” Philip remarked, pulling a chair over to the bed and sitting next to Alexander, massaging his hand gently like he had when they were on the boat, John had pulled the other chair over and did the same with his other hand while Hercules hovered behind Philip. 

“P-P…” Alex started, coughing on his breath as his heart rate sped up, John quickly began to calm him by rubbing his hand a bit lighter and trying to help slow his breathing down as he coughed and coughed, and eventually, it all stopped and Alexander let out a tiny pained whine.

“Hey Alexander, It’s John, Philip’s here to, you are currently in New York City, it’s 12:16 P.M and we took you in three days ago from your boat that is being fished up.” John explained in a calm and slow voice, it was like a red velvet cupcake translated into speech.

“J...J-Joh…” He wheezed in pain as he choked out the half-word, Philip shushed him quickly and held cupped a hand on his cheek.

“Papá no speaking!” Philip scolded, Hercules let out a pleased chuckle from behind Philip, it startled Alexander back into a coughing fit, Philip simply copied John’s previous movements and calmed him down quickly.

“You’ve been diagnosed with… yellow fever and water pressure damage in your right leg.” John left out the part about possible dementia, he’d only address that after it being confirmed, Alexander frowned at the news, tears threatening to spill.

“What’s yellow fever?” Philip asked John, he bit his lip once more, tearing off a loose and dry skin flake and allowing a small droplet of blood seep through the surface of his lip, one of his many ways to calm himself. 

“It makes him really sick and his skin becomes yellow-y.” Hercules explained, sparing John the explanation, he mentally sighed in relief, teaching was not a skill he had. 

“Oh…” Philip frowned, turning back to Alexander as he stared at them in shock, he hadn’t bothered trying to move out of pain and exhaustion, he knew something was wrong with him but not all of this.

“Mister Laurence-John?” Philip began, shuffling his way over to the side of John, Hercules raised an eyebrow but John just pointed at his sharp teeth, Hercules nodded.

“Yes Pipa?” John said, kneeling before Philip and running a hand through his curls.

“Can you use your shark magic to help heal him?” Philip asked, Hercules wheezed in the background and Alexander shook his head no frantically, John stood tall, letting his new memories and knowledge flood in, he _could_ heal Alexander, but it would only risk the dementia to spread quicker, why did magic have to be so complicated?

“Um… I don’t think so I’ll look into that more Philip, but I can use it to numb his pain a bit if it would make you feel better.” John responded, pushing his hair back awkwardly, Philip nodded frantically at the option and bounded over to the other side of the bed and held his arms up, signalling Hercules to pick him up, and he did so. 

“Alrighty-o.” John chuckled nervously, he decided to just forget all he knew from the present and just focus on Laurence for now, and so he stood there until his freckles began to heat up slowly, Hercules let out a large gasp as his entire body began to glow, every part of his body felt disconnected, like he was controlling it from outside of the body, he could feel his ancient faded tattoos also glowing lightly, this was certainly interesting. 

“John you’re glowing.” Hercules reminded, John nodded at him absent-mindedly.

“Trust me I got no clue how I’m doing this either, a shark swam into my body now I’m magical and some historical chief’s son, go ask Eliza she helped me research this.” John admitted, stepping towards Alexander cautiously, trying not to let his magic fade.

“I wanna do that…” Hercules mumbled in awe as John lowered his hands onto Alex’s chest, who simply stayed still, he looked exhausted but relieved as John stepped away, forgetting to turn off his magic.

“John…” Herc started as John walked to the other side of the room, Philip was too busy watching Alexander to notice John slowly transforming to his water form.

“Yes?” John said, turning to face Hercules, completely unaware of the gills forming on his neck and his hands slowly beginning to weave webbing between each one, if Hercules didn’t know John as a close friend, he’d honestly be a lot more freaked out and would have probably thrown a chair at him, but he kept his cool, trying to make John aware of his changes.

“John you’re-”

“Oh, right I forgot to sign in I’ll be right back.” John cut him off, zooming around the corner clumsily on his ever-growing feet-flipper things.

“JOHN!” Hercules called, running off after his friend, gasping as he saw John trip over in front of him, gasping for air- or in this case water. Good job John, you complete knucklehead, Hercules pushed away his negative outlook on this and rushed to his side to aid him, having no real clue as to what to do.

“John you dingus you need to change back!” Hercules told him as he picked the shark-man up bridal-style as he wheezed and coughed, his freckles and tattoos flickering roughly.

“C-cant…” John whined, Hercules rushed to the main lobby quickly, turning the corner to see Eliza at the desk, her eyes widened with concern as Hercules rushed John in. 

“ELIZA I NEED WATER!” Hercules shouted, pointing at Alexander with a stray finger to emphasize his point, she gulped when she saw the state John was in, but took no time to grab her water bottle and shove it into John’s awkwardly-shaped hands, he fumbled with it, struggling to get the top off, Eliza reached over the desk to help him with it, when it finally opened he chugged the entire bottle without hesitation.

“Jesus christ John! I was trying to tell you that you forgot to stop doing your magic stuff, but no, you run off without knowing you’ve turned into your shark… thing…?” Hercules half-scolded as John slowly tried to glow once more, Eliza couldn’t fight the look of utter confusion and fear as she watched his magic flick off once again.

“God damnit.” Hercules mumbled, rushing out of the building, Eliza close behind, not minding the fact that she should be at the front desk in case of emergency, the two ran across the boardwalk until they reached the ocean, Hercules chucked John in without thinking, he splashed into the water and flailed around slightly before catching his breath.

“What is going on today…?” Eliza asked, her expression went completely blank.

“I have no clue, all I know is John was being a dink and got shark powers and used them to help numb the patient’s pain and he forgot to turn them off and became a shark monster came and thanks to some crazy evil karma he couldn’t change back or something.” Hercules threw his arms up in defeat.

“I need to have complete control of my emotional state to use it.” John chimed in, his head peeking out of the water as he spoke, Hercules let out a long sigh as he dangled his legs over the side of the dock, Eliza did the same and watched as John simply waded there for a good two minutes.

“How do you know all this stuff anyways John?” Eliza asked as she playfully splashed a tiny bit of water at John’s face.

“Like I told you, I’m John Laurence, like…. The shark version of John Laurence entered my damn body so now I have like… Tattoo marks and a bunch of knowledge.” John explained, the two both still looked hopelessly confused.

“Okay… But you still used your magic for numbing back there, but you turned into shark Laurens” Hercules breathed out, a hand on his head.

“Um… I- Okay so… Hmm… Okay got it, when you concentrate your shark stuff you can use it for healing, water manipulation and other cool stuff, but if you don’t concentrate it, it automatically thinks you wanna shark it up, eh? I was stupid and numbed myself as well as Ale- the patient and I didn’t know I was still using my magic?” John explained with just as much confusion as the other two.

“Fair enough!” Eliza smirked, clapping her hands together as they continued to let John splash around in the water for a good two minutes before Eliza pulled out her phone and texted someone-

<< Elizard <3   
Theo!!! Need u 2 check on new patient and visitor, forgot to tell u John and I are on break!! Call Sal up to the front desk for me will ya? <3

>> THEOneAndOnly  
Sure thing gal, I gotchu !

<< Elizard <3  
You godsend oml <3 <3 Thnx

She put down her phone quickly and sighed, leaning up against Hercules’ arm’s and watching John continue to swim gracefully. 

“Hey kids, what are you up to, on break?” Washington walked over, sitting down next to Hercules, John quickly panicked, looking around as he dove back into the water with a splash, Washington didn’t mind the noise.

“Y-yeah!” Eliza stuttered, staring at the water for any sign of John.

“You guys seen John?” The two gulped in unison, their faces going suspiciously pale and covered in sweat.

“...Where is he…?” Washington asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow at the two, Eliza took a long inhale and recollected herself as Hercules frantically pointed at the water.

“Why is John in the water…?” Washington asked, dragging out his sentence in suspicion. Eliza raised a finger at washington before removing her sweater, revealing a tight wetsuit underneath, it was basic uniform to be wearing wetsuits under clothing at all times.

“One moment.” Eliza smiled, tying her hair up into a tight bun as she dove into the water, Hercules looked at Washington awkwardly.

“Hercules, you have a therapy class at two, don’t you?” Washington asked, breaking the tension in the air, he had a tendency to learn everyone’s schedules before they even knew them, he picked up times and classes from just passive conversation and kept his phone updated with everyone’s schedule, quite impressive for such an intimidating and busy man to have all of the information and having so much time to spread it.

“Yeah.. I do.” Herc shrugged, before going silent once more as Eliza resurfaced quickly, breathing in some air before shooting Hercules an anxious look, then shooting it back to the water as she dove under again.

John had nestled himself into some soft sand at the bottom of the near-land ocean floor, letting his patterns glow lightly as he felt every little motion in the water, there was a fish four feet behind him, a crab gently drifting across the sandy bottom and a new sensation, kicking of human legs.

 _someone was after him_

John quickly shot in another direction instinctively, continuing to gather details on this figure, it was female, hair tied into a bun- she seemed calm and determined, John stopped dead in his tracks as the figure kicked back up to the surface, he wasn’t going to risk going up there until he could put a name and face to the information.

Angelica? No, couldn’t be, she’d be powerful, strong bold strokes, could be a very tired out Peggy, but she’d be very spontaneous and playful, Sally Hemings was cautious, Theodosia was elegant, like a mermaid, no- Eliza, it had to be.

The figure sunk down once more, John swam up to her cautiously, yes, it was Eliza, they locked eyes and Eliza pointed upwards before kicking back to the surface, he cautiously swam back up to the surface, poking his head out of the water to see Hercules and Eliza- who was still wading in the water next to him, and _Washington_

He retreated underwater once more, Eliza swam right after him, he whimpered as he tried to escape her influence and calm outlook, he simply snapped at a fish to take his mind off of it, he wasn’t gonna resurface with his boss up there. 

“He’s… You’re saying the two refugees turned him into a shark creature?” Washington repeated to Hercules, John had just dove under again and after the initial shock Hercules had tried his best to explain. 

“Pipa, the kid, took him swimming and when I went to check on him he had a fin and such and it freaked me out and now he’s claiming he’s a John Laurence and knows jack-all about magic and such.” Hercules decided to try and phrase his previous statement a bit better, Washington nodded slowly before frowning.

“So... Is he stuck in the water?” Washington asked, nervously fidgeting with his hands. 

“Um… Don’t think so? He was a human a few minutes ago but he messed up with his cool blue glowy magic stuff and just... transformed in front of me and we had to throw him in the water. Hercules refreshed 

“He’s probably scared, I’ll let him take his time, I- well, I’ll be off for now, thank you for telling me Hercules, I’ll confront him when he’s more comfortable with speaking to me.” Washington nodded, standing up as Eliza pulled herself up onto the dock, dripping with water and a defeated frown on her face.

“See you kids!” Washington called as he walked off, Herc and Eliza waved as he left.

“He’s not coming up?” Herc sighed, Eliza nodded wordlessly.

“I think I freaked him out, now he’s probably gonna just stay there for a while.” She mumbled miserably, squeezing the water out of her bun as she spoke.

“It’s fine Elizabeth, let’s go get you dried off, okay?” Herc offered, helping her up onto her feet, the two took one last glance at the water as they walked off.  
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────  
“Papá, you’re probably a little bit pain right now, um… I mean pained, but I love you and I wanna hug you but John says I shouldn’t, but when you’re out like… Next sunrise I hope we’ll find our boat and you, John and I will go sailing! Ooh! Maybe we can get Thomas and Herblees and Lafagette to voyage with us! You’ll like Thomas and Lafagette i think! I love you!!” Philip rambled, placing a kiss on Alex’s hand as he drifted into unconsciousness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Should probably be focussing on Alex and Philip but proceeds to make John a sassy fish*


	10. *Underwater Hissing Noise* Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John's the sassiest shark

“John hasn’t come out of the water for five hours, Eliza, we need to go after him!” Hercules stated, Eliza frowned at this, she assumed he’d be out about four hours ago at most and had just wandered off but after asking literally everyone on the job and calling his phone seven times he hadn’t picked up, because of course, he was being a stubborn fish and staying underwater.

“Alright, I’ll go get some diving gear, we’ll go after him, he’s just paranoid, I might have accidentally freaked him out by showing that Washington was there, he’s scared he’s gonna get caught, Herc.” Eliza explained, taking off her sweater to reveal her damp wetsuit once more, Hercules did the same with his uniform, taking his off to reveal his own wetsuit, and so the two waddled to the gear shed and opened it up with their keys, both trudging inside and grabbing some snorkels, air tanks and flippers.

“Can you help me with my air tank, Herc?” Eliza requested, struggling to strap it in place, though she and her sisters had been diving for years, after she landed in the medical field of greenpeace she had little time diving again, much less putting the gear on. 

“Sure thing.” Hercules smiled gently, fixing her straps so they fit well and connected correctly to her breather, and with that they put on their flippers and lept off the dock where they had originally dumped John in, flicking on their headlamps as they swam through the dark water.

They had circled through the tides, trying to find hints of John’s whereabouts, the first hint they got was one of John’s business cards sank down in the depths, of course, he was still wearing his clothes when they dumped him in the water, it was a good lead, Eliza picked it up, inspecting it’s floppy edges before swimming in the direction it was dropped in, west, Hercules followed her as they continued to swim through the open water, their air tanks a quarter way through.

The second clue they found was his discarded shirt, Hercules took it, there was a fin-shaped hole in the back and some desperate looking tears on the sides, like he was trying to bite it off, and they continued to swim around the western side of the ocean. 

Final clue, his jeans, ripped and torn in many locations left at the bottom of the sea, next to it, two dead fish. Just killed minutes ago, John was close and they knew it, air tanks a little under half full at this point, assuming they’d find him in the next 20 minutes they’d be fine.

John could feel them after him, he could feel Eliza swimming behind him with someone much more muscular, a threat, his instincts just took over as he darted to the wreckage of an abandoned ship and hid in the dining hall filled with old sunken furniture and other wreckage,he curled up underneath one of the chairs and waited, trying his hardest to dim his obvious glowing. 

He felt their presence approach the ship he just stayed still, he could feel their emotion, concerned and desperate to find him and a bit of fear, he was sure it was just an act, but the fear part hit him a small bit and a shiver filled his body as he clutched the chair leg in panic, they were afraid of something. Something was after him, is that what they are scared about, he needed to run and hide- no he can’t do that, he’s tough he can take it. 

_I’m John Laurens…_

He thought to himself, that’s who he is, he isn’t John Laurence right now, he’s John Laurens, he’s brave and an independent Greenpeace warrior, but the fear still controlled his body, his mind warped around it all, _I’m John Laurence._ but no, it didn’t stop there, his mind was taken over, abducted by strange urges and instincts, swim, hunt, eat, stop! Danger! Keep swimming, keep swimming, keep swimming. 

He darted into the kitchen when he felt them inside the boat, keep swimming, keep swimming… His brain was completely on auto-pilot as he hid underneath a desk, curling his body up underneath it and staying as still and silent as possible. 

_I’m John… I’m Shark… Hunt… Swim, eat! Danger is getting closer!_

He stayed deadly still, his heart stopping when Hercules and Eliza entered the kitchen, their fear flooded his senses, he could smell it and feel it and feel his flippers tingle with an odd sensation of thousands of needles poking into his hands and making it fuzzy, like if humans- or shark creatures could have television static. The sensation was awful and he wanted it to go away, he felt a rumbling noise growl through his chest and watched as the two pairs of flippers turn to face his direction, he went dead silent again and began to curl up into a tiny ball, his mouth gaping open defensively- no it was more like it was forced open. 

He could feel the water warp around them as they lowered down to his hiding spot, calm eyes staring at him with concern as he swam out the other end of the table and backed up to the wall, Eliza and Hercules pointed upwards and he shook his head no, Eliza reached out a hand for him but he backed up further, yelping when his dorsal fin bent slightly against the old wood, Hercules and Eliza swam closer to him, he was being invaded, he needed to run, he needed to swim out of there.

Eliza’s hand was on his nose, he froze in place, he couldn’t move, it wasn’t out of shock or fear, it was just another instinct, she raised an eyebrow as he melted into the touch before rubbing it gently and pulling him into a close hug, making note of all of his fins and trying not to bump the sensitive things as she slowly removed her hand from his nose, he panicked and struggled in her grasp as she quickly reached for his nose again, but he pulled away and frantically darted out, feeling as Eliza tried to grab his ankle, but he slipped right out with another scared noise and swam out onto the deck of the sunken ship, Eliza and Herc following. 

Their fear was growing, his was as well, he had to keep swimming. The only thing keeping him in place was his actual logic, he kept trying to chant to himself _I’m John Laurens… I’m not a shark, I’m Jo- I’m a shark, I’m a shark_ and with that he darted away with a yelp, leaving Hercules and Eliza in the dust, their tanks nearly empty, it looked as if they needed to resurface again, and so they made their way to the surface and removed their masks, both sighing to each other.

“He can’t stay in there forever Eliza.” Hercules reminded her, her face was pale with fear and regret. When was their Laurens, their close friend Laurens so terrified of her and Hercules, and yes she was scared doing the mission but what was he afraid of.

“He can if he wants to… He’s terrified, Hercules.” Eliza fired back as they paddled themselves to the Greenpeace beach and surfaced, removing their air tanks and groaning.

“I’m just worried about him,” Eliza admitted, lying down on the soft, damp, late afternoon sand. 

“I am too, Eliza, he’s not even being stubborn anymore he’s just acting like an afraid animal.” Hercules frowned, lying down next to her and staring at the almost-set sun. 

“Hercules, I know what you’re saying in all but John is _not_ an animal-”

“Eliza, what if he is, what if something happened and he’s actually just becoming one, what if he’s doomed to live in the ocean like Washington said, Eliza he was hiding from us, the only thing that seemed to work was you touching him on the nose, the nose Eliza! He just went paralyzed when you did it!” Hercules reminded, his voice wavered, laced with fear.

“Then we support him, Hercules, we’ll track him and watch him and let him be a quote on quote animal.” Eliza retorted, her voice also weak and shattered.

“I don’t want him to be a quote on quote animal, Eliza, he’s just thinking he’s one because he has flippers and some fins!” Hercules continued, sitting up and staring her dead in the eyes, tears welling up in his eyes.

“Maybe he doesn’t actually want to!? What if he’s trapped, Hercules, that definitely wasn’t our John back there, think about it, he hid from us, he ran away from us- he bit off his clothing out of panic or something!” Eliza sat up as well, her eyes sad and slowly beginning to lose their calmness.

“Eliza, did you see him.” Hercules asked, his eyebrows furrowed, she raised one of her own.

“What do you mean…” She looked scared, terrified, Hercules was as well by the looks of it.

“When he first did the whole changing thing he still looked remotely human, just a softer skin and different features, Eliza the only human thing about him was his arms, neck and legs, the rest of him looked like a shark it’s getting worse.” He snapped, tears rolling down his face, Eliza looked heartbroken.

“We’re- We’re going after him again, Hercules. We’re gonna get Thomas and Burr and Lafayette and my sisters we’ll help him, he’s going to be alright.” Eliza reassured, standing up shakily and walking over to the dock with Hercules trailing behind her like a sad puppy as she picked up her sweater and pulled out her phone.

_★ G-Peace 87-C  
> 10 participants_

_> > Elizard [5:45]  
Guys!!! EMERGENCY at the dock, get some diving gear!_

_< < Macaroni Man [5:46]  
On my way now_

_> > GWash [5:46]  
Affirmative, Elizabeth_

_< < Peg-o Stick [5:47]  
Me and Angie are on our way Liza!!!! >:O_

_> > Burrb [5:48]  
I'm on vacation with my family, be safe guys.  
_

Herc and Eliza sat there, strapping on their spare air tanks they brought on in silence, both of them exhausted and determined, the footsteps began to clip clop in the background, a whole herd of them, Washington, James, Jefferson, Peggy, Angelica and finally Lafayette. 

“Mon amies what is happening!?” Lafayette cut in, strapping on his air tank, the others did so as well and slipped on their flippers.

“It’s John.” Hercules stated, giving Washington a look, his expression went blank before nodding.

“What about him?!” Angelica asked, tugging her other flipper on.

“H-he’s underwater… a-and might be turning… Into a shark…?” Eliza shrugged, everyone stared at her in disbelief, that was until Alexander ran out with a frantic Phillip, Sally and Theodosia behind him.

“John!” He yelped, pushing through everyone, the man’s ears were larger and fish-like, he looked like some kind of creature out of the legend of Zelda, and immediately everyone just stared, Peggy and Lafayette yelped and jumped back in shock as Alexander wheezed and his ears retracted back into normal ones, Philip, Theo and Sally all got behind him and silently hushed him as he coughed his lungs out and made pleading eyes at them.

“John… He’s… He’s going, something's, he’s…” Alexander stuttered out as he was lifted by the two girls and carried away, coughing in agony.

They all went deadly silent as they dove into the water one-by-one. Eliza and Hercules took the lead, swimming through the dark cloudy water in the direction they followed until they reached his business card, then his shirt, then his pants, then finally the ship

 _They have more, more danger, more fear, more more more, swim!_ John’s mind screeched at him as he could feel the rumbling of the water near the boat, he had quickly retreated to a sunken shipping crate and hid under the broken crack under the floor silently, his ears twitched and hands burned with the static sensation once more. All of them were afraid and it was overwhelming. 

John sat there silently underneath the broken down crate, in complete and utter shock, he was making a small choked hiss noise that a human would never be able to make and lost all control of his body as he flailed around under the crate when the sensation grew stronger, they were coming for him, they were going to fish him up and rip off his fins for money, weren’t they?

His little safe zone didn’t feel safe anymore, he wiggled his way out of the little shelter only to be greeted with confused and terrified eyes with a hint of concern in them, shining through goggles and swimming gear, their loose hair waving freely behind them, they looked identical with his fuzzy eyesight- since when was his eyesight fuzzy? One’s hair tied up in a bun and the other a wet poof of hair, John quickly darted up out of a rip in the tank, followed by many more of the intruders. 

Lafayette was the first one to begin to circle over him, if he could outspeed this bullet-like John or at least have him swim in another direction it would be fine, he noticed Peggy and Angelica also wrapping around him like a human net, all he needed to do was slow down or move. They could all tell he was terrified, the way he darted around and constantly made grumbling and horrific shrieks and whines when they neared him.

Then they approached something, just in the distance was another sunken ship, John took no time to dart inside of it, followed by the others, he quickly zig-zagged into the dining room, then to the kitchen like he did last time.

This time only one person followed, Lafayette- sad eyes staring him down made his heart sink in his chest, Lafayette had no fear, nothing about his emotion, the way he waded there gently in front of him, the way he blinked and his calm breathing through his gear, it was the first sign of true complete concern- he felt safe. 

Lafayette slowly drifted closer to John, who backed up cautiously, Lafayette stopped dead in his tracks, being patient with him. He simply lowered himself to the ground of the ship and crossed his legs, John was taken back by this, it was so curious- interesting to watch him just sit there silently.

John slowly kicked closer to Laf, his eyes wide with curiosity as he copied Lafayette’s movements, crossing his legs- he struggled for a moment to cross his large feet into place, but he did it and just sat in front of Lafayette with his mouth drooping open. Lafayette eventually made his move, scooching close to John cautiously, John flinched at first, closing his eyes and making a tiny growl as soothing arms wrapped him into a hug, he continued to growl for a moment as tiny circles were being rubbed on his lower back and he began to melt into the intoxicating touch, his growling switching to a low purring noise.

The group was taken aback when Lafayette emerged from the room with a happy looking John nestled safely in his arms each of them felt differently about this whole thing, they finally got a good glimpse of John- needless to say happiness is not the first emotion they’d have looking at him.

John squirmed at the incoming of fear once more, Laf still rubbing his back gently, he decided that Lafayette was safe, he was good, he pulled closer to Laf and made a small choked croaking noise as a hand ran gently through his curly hair, it felt good in contrast to the static feeling abducting his hands and back uncomfortably. Lafayette began to swim, John did as well, clinging next to him like a young child would to a parent, the others followed behind, making him want to dart forwards and swim like there was no tomorrow, but then he’d lose Laf, and he didn’t want to lose the one keeping him ‘safe’.

In the distance, he could see something waving freely in the sand, something colorful and blurry. He poked Gilbert who turned to face him before pointing down to the clothes, Gilbert gently stroked his hair as he began to descend into the water to grab them, when he rose back up to John’s level he offered to give them over to John, he took them without hesitation and began to sniff it, it smelt familiar- so fami-

_John Laurence?_

The name passed through his head, was that his name? It was so curious and interesting, he held the clothes closer to him and made a toothy smile, his patterns glowing lightly in the water, but then he paused when Lafayette dove down again, he followed, trailing behind like a lost puppy and watched as Lafayette picked up the discarded business card and waded in the water next to him. John stared at it with squinting eyes as he read the blurry and faded letters.

_John Laurens_

That was it! His name was John Laurens! But what was a John Laurens? Was it a kind of fish? Maybe it was a shark, he was a shark he thinks, but is he actually? John Laurens doesn’t sound like a shark name, he ran through his thoughts as they finally reached the shore, Lafayette crawled onto the shallow sand and gestured John forward, gestured for him to stand, but he stayed under water as the others circled around him cautiously. 

“C’mon John, come stand up, bud.” Lafayette kneeled down in the water and put a hand on his cheek, John frowned and nestled himself deeper into the shallow sand, everyone frowned- all the mixed yet similar emotions confused John deeply, his heart tugged in his chest roughly, it hurt.

“Just give him time, Gilbert, we got him this far.” Eliza sighed, John shifted slightly in the sand at the name before poking his head out of the water slightly, squinting up at the frenchman, they all went stiff- like any movement would send him back into the deep water. 

“Hi.” Gil Smiled, gently stroking his hair, everyone tensed even more at every movement, they were afraid he would run- John froze when he first felt it, everyone’s fear had begun to resurface. He quickly ducked back underneath the water and wrapped his body around Gilbert’s legs, clinging to them for dear life.

“Guys you’re scaring him!” Peggy spat, everyone went still once more as he curled up into a small ball.

“How!?” Thomas asked, putting his hands on his hips.

“Just, everyone calm down, we might be overwhelming him.” Washington sighed, kneeling down next to Gilbert and reaching into the water to stroke John’s hair gently, just like with Lafayette he sank right into it, purring, everyone visibly relaxed and so did John. 

Soon enough everyone was knelt in the shallow water, inspecting all his features and his actions as he curiously inspected everyone’s hands, feet and lack of gills. It was odd to them that their ‘human’ friend was now looking at them all like they were the ones with fins and flippers. 

“John, I have no clue what happened to you, but you’re going to owe me a long-ass explanation.” Angelica threatened. That seemed to click something in place for the shark-man as he poked his head out of the water.

“John.” he mimicked, they all nodded, he nodded as well.

“John Laurens, that’s you,” Eliza said, he scoffed and dipped under water for a moment before resurfacing.

“What are you?” He asked, pointing at everyone individually, some frowned, others chuckled.

“Humans, you’re supposed to be one John,” James said, scratching the back of his own head.

“I’m a shark.” John responded, crossing his arms like Thomas was doing, it seemed like a thing he would do to protest.

“No, John,” Eliza said, he scoffed and grunted, splashing heaps of water at Eliza’s face, everyone chuckled at his antics.

John sat there in silence, everyone else was silent as well, allowing him to think, was he a human? John Laurens sounded like a Human, it made sense, but he needed more evidence to be sure.

“You, you’re name!” John pointed at Thomas, he grinned smugly.

“Thomas Jefferson.” John nodded and sunk under water to think again. 

Okay so maybe he was a John Laurens human… His thoughts slowly began to seep back in, memories of walking on land, no gills- memories of drawing turtles, dreams of magical canoes and joining Greenpeace- how had he forgotten all of it, John slowly gained rightful control of himself and slowly stood up straight and tall in the water, brushing a curious hand over his gills before slowly forcing them to vanish, everyone stood back as he changed back, Lafayette cautiously picked up his clothes and put them in his hands, he sat in the water and got dressed, emerging as a full-human, besides his teeth, he liked the power they had when they were sharp.

“What the hell happened…?” John muttered to himself, pulling his shirt on and shaking off the water covering him, slowly his memories of running from his friends underwater slipped out of his mind like a dream, he clawed and pried at his brain to get them back but he couldn’t.

“John?” Eliza asked, stepping towards him, he spun around and waved awkwardly, noticing everyone’s concerned and confused stares, yet they all seemed relieved. 

“What happened?” John asked, hoping his terrified-looking friends knew, the last thing he remembered for certain was him swimming away from Eliza because she had brought Washington over to see him in his new state- then he felt uncomfortable and tried to tear off his shirt then everything past that was a blank slate, just standing on the shore with clothes being handed to him. they must have figured out, they knew what he was now, they were going to kick him out weren’t they-

“You kind of turned into a shark thing.” Angelica shrugged, they all just nodded, John’s pupils shrunk down to mere pinpricks as he cautiously stepped away from the group. 

“I’m sorry I- I messed this all up, Eliza and Herc knew I was going to tell you all, I just- I just discovered this in the morning- the patients, Pipa and Lex both… They showed me I’m- I’m like.” John stepped back even more, he didn’t want to explain this all right now.

“Slow down, John! We’re not mad at you, at least I’m not, it’s just kind of freaky to see your friend look like a fish and look so afraid of us underwater.” Lafayette grinned smugly, him and Thomas had the same expression for almost everything.

“I’m gonna go,” John said sheepishly, stepping away from the group and quickly jogging towards the hospital, Eliza sighed and followed him, the others fanned out and got back to work, each of them looked confused and concerned in their own unique way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Explanation: In this magic lore thing if you shark for too long without breaks you slowly begin to just take all their instincts and don't want to turn back- and eventually you just forget being a human and just think you're a shork and wanna swim and hunt- the whole feeling emotion thing is a shark instinct where they get afraid if you're afraid.


	11. Meet the Laurens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John decides to bring Philip to the Laurens household for the night

“Hey Pipa, hey Alex.” John smiled, entering the room in casual attire, a blue striped shirt and gym pants. Philip smiled at his entrance and waved with enthusiasm, John couldn’t help but smile at the kid’s overwhelming joy, now if only he had that much charisma he might actually convince the others that he’s fine. 

“Hi John! What were you doing today? Alex got worried and kept calling for you.” Philip informed, John felt a small pang of guilt ripple through his stomach, he felt bad for leaving them for so long but resurfacing meant facing Washington and most likely getting fired or sent to a lab to get tested on- then he’d be the only magical human in the papers, not Alex or Philip. Instead he was faced with all of his squadron- and now they all knew. 

“I was hunting.” John admitted, it wasn’t wrong entirely, he had eaten a few fish before completely forgetting everything and just going into his shark daze.

“Fun!” Philip giggled, dashing over to John.

“It was indeed fun, C’mere.” John grinned wide, picking up Philip and balancing him on his hip, the nine-year-old giggled and patted John’s freckled face, in return John stuck out his tongue in response.

“So are we going back to Bagalette’s house tonight?” Philip asked, John cringed at the thought of returning to Lafayette’s house after ‘the incident’ but quickly lifted his smile once more to please the concerned boy.

“No, we aren’t going to Lafayette’s house tonight, we’re gonna go to mine.” He smiled- before realizing suddenly he hadn’t been home in two weeks, he knew how his dad acted when he did his ‘rebellious little stunts’ and joining greenpeace would most likely be the last straw, maybe Philip could lighten the load- after all his father had a tendency to let it all dissipate when company was involved. 

“OooOoo! I wanna see your big house!” Philip squealed, John chuckled and hugged the boy close with one arm, the other went to grab the updated clipboard at the end of his bed, he held it out in front of him and squinted- his eyes still adjusting from he’d call shark-eye for now. The letters looked distorted for a good ten seconds before refocusing.

_  
Patient Name: Alexander (Last name unknown)  
Age: N/A (14-19)  
Residence: N/A  
Phone Number: N/A  
Emergency Contacts: John Laurens  
Any Medication: N/A_

_Report:  
internal water pressure injury in right leg  
Yellow fever  
Minor Brain damage on Frontal Lobe  
Unidentified liquid in blood spread to brain  
_

John sighed audibly and placed the clipboard back into it’s place, well at least the threat of dementia was gone, but now there was a whole new thing to worry about, possible epilepsy, being literally fearless and other effects, even if it was minor. 

“What’s wrong John?” Philip asked, cuddling up closer and pressing his head against John’s squishy cheek.

“Just reading Alexander’s report, something I was scared about wasn’t true, so I’m happy it was a happy sigh.” John explained as he walked Philip to the doorframe before turning back to Alexander.

“Bye Papá!” Philip waved, John did as well.

“Later Alexander, we’ll be back tomorrow!” John reassured to the unconscious man, he groaned internally at the fact Alexander was probably going to be on so much medication with tubes sticking out everywhere, how was Philip going to deal with that? He shook the thought out of his head as he walked out to the front room, Sally Hemings was at the desk, she gave John a small smile as he walked Philip out of the building.

“John! Where are you going?” Hercules frowned, rushing up to him with Lafayette by his side.

 

John tensed and walked faster with Philip who waved at Herc and Laf as they made their way to John’s jeep, when he arrived he was surrounded by his co-workers, Thomas and James talking to each other, Peggy sitting on the roof of the jeep, texting someone and Angelica with her arms crossed blocking the door.

“Eyo John.” Peggy waved, trying to hide the uneasiness of the whole situation, everyone constantly giving him probing glares, begging for information internally. 

“Can I get in my car thanks?” John asked, shifting Philip in his arms, each of them gave him dirty looks reading ‘do you really think you’re getting away this easily’ John grumbled and tried to shove Angelica out of the way.

“John just talk to us!” Peggy pleaded, hopping off the roof in front of John as he tried to unlock his car, he just pushed her away too, letting Philip down who shot dirty looks at each of the adults, they all frowned at John and Philip as he opened the door and ushered for Philip to get in, the boy did so and crawled over into the passenger’s seat. 

“John you’re gonna just drive away when we’re willing to talk to you! We don’t hate you-”

“SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE.” John yelled, baring his sharp teeth at all of them, his entire body glowing menacingly at them as some sort of survival instinct, they all backed away as he hopped into the Jeep and began to close the door, Angelica quickly grabbed it and held it half-open.

“John what is wrong with you!? You’re going to drive out of here with no explanation and hide from us fore-” The rest of their lectures were cut short by John slamming the door hard in their faces and rolling up the window, James and Thomas both stepped away from the car as it backed up and left the parking lot.

“Why did they all look so mad with you John? Are you alright? Why did you yell?” Philip frowned, giving John a confused pouty-face.

“They just want me to tell them about you and Alexander and I’m not going to tell them anything, because it’s not my job to tell them about you or your culture, or anything so special about you that you want hidden.” John half-lied, Philip crossed his arms while noticing John’s knuckles were white from clutching the steering wheel so hard. 

“Something else is wrong.” Philip deadpanned, watching as John breathed in and out heavily, his knuckles deadly pale and teeth sharp and menacing. He growled lowly and sped the car up.

“Nothing else is wrong Philip, I’m fi-” Philip cut him off by putting a comforting hand on John’s lap, the car slowly began to slow down when they reached a red light, giving John time to recollect himself.

“I’m sorry Philip… I-I… I accidentally lost control while I was fishing… I don’t know what I did but I don’t remember any of it, but when I finally woke back up I was on the shore retracting my features with all my friends staring at me. I just… I’m not ready to tell them Philip, they all figured me out accidentally, I don’t want them to figure you guys out and send us all to a science lab to get played with like animals.” John clutched the wheel, gentler this time as the light turned green, the two sat there in silence, Philip keeping the hand on John’s leg.

“If they figure me and Alexander out, so be it, so be it then- right? If they want us to go to this ‘science lab’ place they’ll need to out-swim us first.” Philip grinned, his teeth also sharp and shark-like, John let out a half-hearted chuckle as they continued to drive through the countryside- then into the what everyone calls it ‘rich people village’.

“Hey Pip.” John began, Philip turned to him and made a noise signalling he wanted the sentence finished.

“Thank you for coming into my life.” Philip smiled and let out a small giggle, returning to his playful nature as they pulled up into the large driveway, Philip gasped, staring out of the window at John’s gargantuan house. John unlocked the doors and unbuckled himself then let himself out of the Jeep, followed by Philip who took the older man’s hand and skipped all the way to the entrance where they were greeted by three faces.

“John!?” One of them called with a gasp, John grinned a toothy grin before quickly retracting his shark teeth before they all got suspicious, he brushed his shoulder and climbed the stairs only to be hounded by his younger siblings.

“JOHN’s BACK!” One of them screeched, the only other male one, Henry Jr.

“John where the hell have you been!?” Martha asked, helping John stand back up as Mary Eleanor and Jr both clinged to his legs as Philip stood there like a lost puppy. 

“Defying dad, being a rebel, you know how I swing Martha.” John grinned smugly, Martha scoffed looking half-offended, John knew it was only a joke as the family all burst out into laughter, Philip decided to join in, that’s when the other’s noticed him.

“Who’s this?” Martha asked, kneeling down and smiling at Philip, who smiled back with big sharp half-shark teeth that Martha didn’t bother questioning.

“I’m Pipa and I am nine winter cycles- I mean years long! Old!!” Philip stood tall and grinned as Mary, Jr and Martha inspected him.

“He looks like a mini John.” Henry inspected, Philip giggled at the comment.

“John you better not have had a child without us knowing!” Martha scolded, John burst out laughing.

“Oh god no, his dad’s in the hospital so I’ve been taking care of him.” John exclaimed, picking Philip up as the family all made their way into the house like a pack of wild dogs and removed their shoes. 

“DAD JOHN’S HOME!” Henry Jr squealed, flying up the stairs, John groaned as he took his shoes off and allowed Philip to begin to roam free with Martha and Mary.

“C’mon Philip, we’ll show you the house.” Martha exclaimed, leading Philip into the living room as John’s father, Henry laurens descended with Jr, a stone cold look on his face.

“Jacky, where have you been?” Henry frowned stepping towards John, he could feel his instincts screaming at him to run or scream or something.

“I’ve been working.” John admits, seeing how it was true, Henry smiled at this.

“You smell like fish, it seems as if you have finally taken to the family business am I correct?” Henry had a sharp toothy probing grin on his face, John stood his ground near his father and nodded, technically he was fishing in shark form so if his father ever asked for game he truly could provide it, not saying he’d ever dare catch anything endangered or anything even close to a shark or turtle but it was enough.

“I’m proud of you Jacky.” Henry smiled truthfully, John let out a sigh of relief as he hugged his father awkwardly, his palms sweaty.

Henry finally pulled away from John and inspected his son, squinting at his arms before raising them up to his face, inspecting all his swirls and tattoo patterns.

“Jack what did you do to your body?” Henry spat, John pulled away quickly with a hissing noise as Henry’s calm expression grew impatient and angry as he grabbed at John again, Jr quickly backed away from the two as henry pulled up his shirt to reveal more patterns, John stood there embarrassed, he’d have to suffer the consequences over telling the truth in this situation. 

“Well, Jack, answer me! Are you in some cult!? Look at these markings, you ruined your beautiful pure body John! What do you have to say for yourself!?” Henry scolded, John shrunk down and backed away from his father feeling bare and open.

“I’m not in a cult dad. It was for the fishing group I’m in, it’s supposed to call the game.” John fibbed, holding his chin high, Henry growled.

“You know that doesn’t work, you know better than that Jack, you’re lying to me and I can tell, come here Jack.” Henry ordered, John stood his ground, standing in the center of the room without moving, Henry growled.

“Here.” He spat, John stepped forward, shrinking into a non-intimidating weak state, Henry scoffed as he checked John’s back only to see more tattoos, he growled once more as he ran a finger over each of the little swirls, John shivered and stood deadly still.

“How do you know about these patterns Jack. Who gave these to you?” Henry growled lowly, turning John back around, he was sweating heavily.

“I already told you dad!” John spat, trying to continue his lie, Henry still wasn’t buying it. 

“John, come with me.” Henry growled, grabbing John’s wrist and dragging him to the stairs as Philip, Martha and Mary skipped in, each of them freezing as they saw the situation, Martha pulled Philip behind her protectively, but Philip stood his ground, pushing past Martha and walking up to Henry with a bold face, Henry quickly let go of John and nudged him upstairs as Jr threw John’s shirt back, he put it back on and rushed to Philip’s side.

“What were you doing to John mister?” Philip demanded, John shushed him and picked him up, Philip sneered at Henry.

“Who is this, John?” Henry demanded, John grinned, knowing his father would pull something like this. 

“This is Pip, John’s taking care of him for a friend.” Martha explained, Henry nodded.

“Well, Pip, you’re welcome in our household, Martha, Mary, Jr, how about you show Philip to his room, me and Jack need to have a talk.” That wasn’t a question, it was order, John shot his siblings a look of ‘oh dear lord help me’ as he set Philip down, but going against Henry Laurens was something you can’t do without getting punished.

Philip gave Henry a death glare as he was lead upstairs, leaving only John and Henry, Henry moved first, grabbing John by the wrist and dragging him through the house to his study and locking the door, John swallowed roughly. 

“John, those tattoos are markings from a rebellious group of cult people, John, many years ago in our bloodline there were chiefs and the rebellious son-”

“John Laurence.” John supplied, Henry growled. 

“You do know it, you liar, why do you constantly lie to me Jacky? What did I do to you, ever!?” Henry growled, nearing John who simply let out a maniac laugh.

“What did you ever do!? Are you kidding me dad!?” John chuckled, Henry continued to growl darkly.

“I wouldn’t give me that attitude, John Laurens.” Henry threatened, this shut John up. 

“So since you obviously know who John Laurence is, you obviously know what he did, his love with sharks and the sea, you aren’t a fisher John, you’re a dirty liar and traitor, what good have the sharks ever done John, what is wrong with you!? You lie for them!? You never eat them, they’re a delicacy, you’d rather starve our family than kill a shark!? You aren’t a shark John, you’r-” John shoved his father against the wall roughly and bared his sharp teeth, his entire body lighting up as his fin slowly began to rip through his back and his hands weaved webbing between them.

“Funny story dad.” John responded smugly, letting Henry go and backing up away from his father, who inspected his son with sad and angry eyes.

“Jacky they corrupted you… What did they do to you Jacky… You’re a damn monster, you’re not a shark, you’re a monster John, that’s what you are, you’re an insane bloodthirsty monster.” Henry muttered to John, walking up to him and grabbing his wrist once more and dragging him into the hall.

“MARTHA, JR, MARY, GET DOWN HERE!” Henry spat, putting a hand on John’s nose, paralyzing him and dumping him onto the couch where he coughed and begged for water. His siblings rushed down, Philip was close behind them, trailing there like a lost puppy.

“Your brother is a monster… Look at him.” Henry pointed to John, coughing out on the couch and gasping and covering his long fishy ears as his siblings screamed, Philip rushed towards him only to be blocked by Henry, Philip growled and bared his own teeth, causing Henry to stumble back.

“Get him water!” Philip ordered, Martha quickly grabbed Mary and ran off somewhere as Henry stood there in shock, sobbing slightly, Philip sat there and gently rubbed John’s lower back as he whined and growled on the couch. 

Martha rushed back in and threw two water bottles at Philip, who caught them with ease and quickly twisted open the cap and poured the water all over John, who coughed and finally began breathing as Philip began to open the second one, looking over in fear at his siblings, he never wanted them of all people to see him like this, Henry was on the floor gasping for breath and backing away from John and Philip like they were monsters, and for once, John wanted to believe he was one, he frowned and changed himself back, staring at his siblings with sad eyes before picking Philip up.

“Jack… Get out, you’re a disgrace to this family… You monster.” Henry spat out, his siblings held each other close, each one of them crying as John marched to the door letting down Philip and letting him get his shoes on, Martha running after him and pulling him into a hug, sobbing weakly.

“John… Please don’t go.” She begged.

he frowned and rubbed her back, allowing his own tears to flood his face.

“I’m sorry Martha, sorry Jr and Mary… I’m so sorry, I’m not… I’m not correct, dad’s right. I don’t belong here, do I? I really am just a monster, I’m sorry.” John mumbled to Martha, she gripped him tighter, Philip frowned from John’s side. 

“John… No you’re not… No you’re just… I-I… I don’t know what happened but you’re not a monster you’re my brother John, I can’t lose you, we… We already lost…. We lost J-James now you… John I can’t lose you to the ocean as well.” Martha cried, John sniffled and hugged her close as Jr and Mary also stepped near him and hugged him, Henry looked disgusted and walked towards the group and forcefully pulled Martha, Jr and Mary away, each of them screaming and fighting in protest as John and Philip turned to the door and left.

“Guess we’re sleeping at Laf’s place after all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry ;U;


	12. Underwater Purring noise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> running out of name ideas

The car ride to the Washington’s was silent and uncomfortable, the radio gently playing disney music as Philip bobbed his head along to the charming tunes as John stayed silent, eyes on the road- trying not to slip into another fit of uncontrollable panic and rage, he just wanted to dive into the ocean and swim away and live as a shark with no consequences and no awareness of his situations.

Eventually though, they arrived at the Washington’s huge home, Pip was the first one to exit the car, humming Prince Ali to himself as John slowly unbuckled his seatbelt, took a deep breath in and opened the door. Now he’s standing and just has to walk to the door safely, one step in front of the other.

“C’mon John!” Philip exclaimed, grabbing John’s arm and dragging him up to the doorstep, okay so maybe no safe stepping but there he was, in front of the door, about to knock or ring the doorbell until Philip did it for him, John gulped- getting ready to make a dive into the bushes as the door clicked open.

“John? Son?” Washington asked, John growled at the comment.

“Don’t call me that right now.” John ordered, Washington nodded with understanding as he let Philip and John in the house, noticing that John was absolutely soaked with a tear in the back of his shirt- he sighed, jumping to the obvious conclusion he had changed once more.

“John!? Mon Ami what are you doing here?” Lafayette called, bounding over to the door and picking Philip up, giving a sad look at John.

“We need a place to crash, I got kicked out of my house.” John explained, the two nodded silently as John removed his shoes and made his way upstairs, Lafayette set Philip down, patted his head and trailed behind John.

“John! What happened to your shirt?” Lafayette poked, John grumbled as he opened one of the many bathroom doors.

“Take a wild guess, what else would make a dorsal-fin shaped hole in my shirt.” Lafayette frowned at the response as John shuffled into the bathroom, looking rather exhausted- he looked into the mirror for a good ten seconds, then he slapped himself in the face- Lafayette quickly stepped inside and massaged John’s shoulders.

“Mon ami, I’m so sorry.” Lafayette said, John just sobbed wordlessly, covering his eyes with his hands and whining into the counter, Lafayette frowned as he rubbed circles into his back, before an idea popped into his brain- he pat John’s hair and scooted over to the enormous spa-tub and began to run slightly warm water into it, this certainly caught John’s attention.

“What are you doing Laf?” John asked, backing towards the door as his eyes darted almost lustfully at the water, like he craved it or something.

“Look, John, you’re obviously uncomfortable with all of us knowing, and I know you- I know how careful you are with your father, You slipped by accident and got kicked out- that’s why your shirt is ripped, and I’m not angry with you in the slightest- but now you’re scared, you’re scared everyone hates you for what you’ve become so I’m letting you swim freely in my tiny tub for a bit.” Lafayette explained, John’s eyes darted back up to Lafayette’s with fear in them.

“Laf I’m a monster, you’ve seen me, you’ve seen what I became Lafayette, didn’t you? Everyone did, I-I glow Lafayette! I GLOW! I Have fins and markings and webbed hands and teeth- do humans have dorsal fins in their shirts, Laf?! I don’t want to be like this Gilbert-.” John went deathly pale as he said his name, thoughts swarming through his head.

“John?” Lafayette asked as he cautiously stepped towards the other man, John stepped back fearfully and angrily, he looked like he was going to snap, Lafayette just kept his cool just like he did with Shark-John. 

“I-I… You… You did this to me Gilbert you…” John stuttered out, collapsing to his knees.

“I don’t understand John, I did not mean to upset you!” Lafayette exclaimed, trying to help John to his feet, but there he stayed, sobbing weakly on the floor, Lafayette simply picked him up- which was not a hard feat for the surprisingly strong frenchmen and set him gently into the half-filled tub.

“G-gilbert why did you… Why did you not listen to my dad.” He whined, placing his head on the rim of the tub.

“I do not understand, because if you’re referring to the whole you’re a monster thing I will not listen to Henry-”

“No- you gave me the wrong tattoo. I was sentenced to death Gilbert, you were supposed to give me a rat but you gave me a shark, I could have been peacefully stepped on yet you dragged out my existence… You should have listened to m-my dad, I deserved to be a cursed animal.” John managed, Lafayette just looked confused.

“John Laurens, my magnificent and dear close friend, you do not deserve to be a quote on quote, cursed animal mon ami, I do not know what you are talking about but you do not deserve any of the torture you are talking about.” Gilbert shushed him, John stared at him with confused and nervous eyes.

“I-I’m… John Laurence... “ John answered, Gilbert took a deep breath in and rubbed his hair gently.

“You’re John Laurens.” Lafayette corrected, playfully splashing water onto his face, he made a small hissing noise and sunk down to the bottom of the spa-tub, Lafayette leaned over to make sure he wasn’t drowning himself and had actually began changing.

There he was, sitting at the bottom of the huge tub, growing his gills and fins and sitting there like the stubborn shark he is- Gilbert gently lowered his hand into the water, causing John to look up and stuff his nose into it, purring gently, it was insane how extreme John’s emotions had started to become.

“One moment, John, can you move out of the way?” Lafayette asked, John nodded and swam to one side of the spa-tub, Lafayette removed his shirt and slipped in, at first John shivered and backed up until his fin hit the back of the spa, then he gently floated over and rested his head on Lafayette’s leg.

“There you are mon ami, see, you’re not a monster, you’re just a cuddly distressed shark-man.” Lafayette explained with a chuckle as Washington peeked through the door.

“Martha’s making Philip some food, where did John go?” Washington asked, Lafayette pointed into the water and then gestured for George to come over, he did so and peeked into the water only to see a fully-changed John purring and rubbing his head against Laf’s leg before his eyes darted up to face George’s, he quickly stuck his head out of the water and squinted before retreating back underwater.

“He acts very interesting when he’s like that.” Washington observed, Laf nodded in acknowledgement. 

“Instincts I assume, he’s been starting to change a lot faster, when he went from shark to human last time it took three minutes, this took thirty seconds and he already seems to have gained his shark-like attitude, he is very cuddly, non?” Lafayette smiled, rubbing John’s hair and watching as he shoved his face into Laf’s belly- causing Lafayette to laugh.

“Indeed, do you think he can still talk right now?” Washington asked, pulling over the makeup stool to sit on next to the water as he dangled his arms into the water, grabbing John’s attention as he poked his head out of the water.

“Hey, son.” Washington greeted, John grumbled awkwardly.

“Hi.” He responded, the two smiled.

“You wanna talk right now? Everyone’s nervous about you, I know you don’t want to but we may as well get it done.” Washington exclaimed, John pouted and dipped underwater for a moment to catch his breath before resurfacing.

“Sure. Sorry if I start biting at my shirt, I have a really bad urge to do so right now.” He responded with an embarrassed shrug. 

“Whatever makes you comfortable.” George admitted, Lafayette nodded and ran a hand through John’s hair, causing him to make a satisfied noise, Laf and George both chuckled.

“Alright, fire away, any questions.” John grinned a toothy grin as he sunk under to catch his breath once more. 

“How do you feel right now?” Washington decided the question didn’t poke too much, John took a moment to respond.

“I have many urges, one’s telling me to swim away, another’s telling me to hunt for fish and another is telling me to purr and beg for Gilbert’s undying attention and affection to me and scratch my fin, I feel like a dog- but besides the urges I feel confused, I feel a bit like a monster right now, comfortable in the water with Laf, sad because Pip’s dad is in the hospital and I’ll never see my siblings again and angry at my father and… Myself? For loosing my cool…?” John quickly dipped under the water once more. 

“Understandable, where do we even start…” Washington sighed, Lafayette grinned and took the charge as John poked out of the water again.

“First of all, it’s alright to feel a bit like a dog-like shark- hell how do we know what you feel, I’d probably just be swimming in circles and itch my webbed hands and want to eat a fish, who knows, it’s probably natural, and you’re not a monster like I said before.” Lafayette smiled, pulling John up onto his lap and gently scratching by his fin John absolutely melted at the affection.

“Alright… Next question I guess, if you’re comfortable with explaining it, what happened at your house, we just want to know so we can help.” George explained, John shuffled awkwardly at the question and dipped his head under for a moment before looking up with sad eyes.

“Dad saw my tattoo markings- which I got with my magic and stuff and lectured me about John Laurence- aka myself, and asked why I cared so much about sharks if I was a human, so I changed right in front of him- he grabbed my nose and I couldn’t… M-move and… H-he called, M-Martha, M-M-Mary and… J-Jr down and I-I couldn’t… I couldn’t breathe… P-Pipa saved me but… I got… I got forbidden from returning.” John dipped his head underwater and made shaky breaths as Gilbert soothingly scratched his fin once more and watching as he relaxed physically.

George shot Gilbert a sad look before shooting it back down at John.

“I’m sorry, son.” He frowned, also reaching out to scratch his fin, he did so and watched as John’s face weakly rose out of the water.

“He said I was a monster.” John finished, they all sat there in silence until Philip entered with Martha close behind, Martha made a shocked noise as she saw the fin sticking out of the water, Philip dragged her in and presented John.

“Hey John!” Philip called, John raised his head out of the water again and waved with a webbed hand, Martha looked like she was going to faint. 

“Hey Mom!” Gilbert called, ushering her over, Philip climbed into the tub without invite and watched as John swam over to him and dragged him gently under water, Martha gasped and quickly rushed to help drag Philip out, but George grabbed her hands and gave her a look saying ‘watch this’ then they both turned back to see Philip had also fully changed and went over to sit on Laf’s lap.

“Shark people exist.” Martha choked out with a smile on her face, she looked absolutely thrilled.

“Yes, yes they do!” Philip exclaimed, shooting back underwater to hug John tight in the limited amount of space in the small hot-tub sized tub. 

“This is incredible! How did you find them?” Martha exclaimed, looking directly at Gilbert.

“John’s an employee at greenpeace, we took Pipa and his father with us, he apparently just turned John into a shark person I guess, apparently he was some sort of reincarnate of a John Laurence figure?” Gilbert supplied as John poked his head out of the water.

“Yo.” He greeted, waving at Martha as Philip dragged him back under the water.

“That’s wonderful… We had just finished dinner for John and Pipa so if they are ready to come down they can.” Martha smiled as Philip and John both popped up at the mention of food.

“Mon Petits, dinner is ready~!” Lafayatte sang, Philip quickly retracted his features a matter of seconds and quickly got out of the tub followed by Lafayette, John sank back under for a moment before popping back up and making a much shakier transformation, wincing as his fin was sucked back into his back. 

“You three go get changed first in Laf’s room.” Martha instructed, throwing them all towels and leaving the room as they all dried off and wobbled their way out of the room, or in John’s case he wobbled right into the wall then out of the room.

“John is your eyesight alright?” Laf asked as they entered his large room.

“Shark vision, it’s blurry for a little bit.” John explained, Philip raised his eyebrow.

“I don’t get shark vision?” Philip spoke confused as Laf threw the boy a pair of his old childhood pyjamas and John a smaller pair of his high school pyjamas, of course they were decorated with French flags.

“I do because when you got shark Laurence to swim into me since he’s an actual shark I have more enhances senses, Pipa.” John explained, the other two nodded as they all split off into different rooms and changed- then proceeded to meet up in the dining room where a platter of Martha Washington’s splendid homemade cooking was displayed over the table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like,,, shark johnn,,,, sorryy this is weird


	13. I can show you the world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SHINING SHIMMERING SPLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENDID

The sun was blazing on a hot sunday afternoon, John had left Philip with the Washingtons to spend some time giving proper explanations to his friends, all the pent up emotions took the reins and dragged him for an insane ride he couldn’t properly think right or function properly in the slightest, It was like torture.

But there he was, anxiously fiddling with his fingers as he sheepishly approached Angelica- he assumed his first apology should be to her, seeing how he slammed the door in her face and drove away angrily. He took a deep breath before stepping into her line of vision.

“John.” She spoke strictly, crossing her arms as she made the first move, stepping in front of him with a disappointed look on her face. 

“Angelica.” John returned the name to her, she blinked and uncrossed her arms slowly instead of quickly, internally thinking any movement would set John off like a ticking time bomb.

“Well, what do you have to say for yourself?” Angelica scolded like some kind of parent, John shrunk down at her tone, she quickly corrected her little mistake by putting a hand on his shoulder, his eyes returned to her face.

“I’m sorry, I really am Angelica, I was wrong for treating you so harshly- I’m sorry for being an asshole and slamming the door on you and being a shark thing? I’m just a big disaster right now, seeing how all of this happened.” He gestured to his tattooed body to amplify his point.

“Honestly John, I’m very close to lecturing you, but I like you- I took a bit of time to talk to Lafayette and Hercules and my sisters to try and figure out what was up with you, and to be honest, I have no clue what is happening to you right now! But trust me, I know what change feels like- especially emotional change.” Angelica winked at John as she spoke, he seemed unphased by it- he’d never understood the flirtatious ways of most females who encountered him and why he never enjoyed it, but that’s another point entirely.

“Yeah, I bet you do.” John shrugged, honestly having no clue what she was talking about- the first thing that came to mind was an image of Angelica and the other Schuylers turning into big badass looking bird people, _that_ would be cool.

“You get what I’m saying then, good. Anyways, I don’t really care if you’re a shark- I’ve gotten over that fact.” Her eyelid twitched as she said that, John swallowed roughly. 

“By that I mean that I woke up at midnight and screamed for a solid ten minutes after it all sunk in.” John chuckled at her explanation- he’d never truly had a long conversation with just Angelica, she was usually being stalked by Peggy, she was quite the nice lady at her lonesome and rather entertaining; dare he say thoughtful?

“I got kicked out of my house because I threw a temper tantrum and sharked in front of my dad then snuggled up to Lafayette in his huge tub- Then they asked me a bunch of-” 

“John, what do you mean snuggled with Lafayatte in his huge tub.” Angelica said, holding back a chuckle- she looked giddy.

“I was upset and had a flashback and threw a fit so Laf threw me in his tub then came in to make me feel comfortable- oh my god that sounded wrong, I didn’t mean it like that he just took off his shirt and joined me as I swam around, it would be like going into a hot tub with a friend don’t get the wrong idea, get your mind out of the gutter Angelica.” John scolded, his face flushed a bright red.

“I want to frame the face you’re currently making.” Angelica grinned smugly as she pulled out her phone and snapped a photo.

“I want that framed on my desk tomorrow.” John fired back and the two burst into laughter.

“Apology accepted, John, thanks for talking to me, now go apologize to my sister she got a road rash because you threw her onto the concrete.” Angelica growled, John facepalmed at himself and groaned.

“I’m a moron, I’m going to get murdered by her if I don’t buy her ice cream after this.” John grumbled as he dragged his sorry ass out of Angelica’s station and ran across the Greenpeace property until he ended up in the testing lab.

He felt uneasy when he got scanned by the scanner and the light turned red, causing Peggy to bound over- the scanner was made to read the DNA of the humans who were in Greenpeace, John had his scanned ages ago, but it never occurred to him that his DNA changed when he changed. 

“Hi Pegosaurus.” John greeted, Peggy made an unamused face as she disarmed the scanner and allowed John to pass through before booting it back up.

“You threw me onto the concrete and owe me a large ice cream on the weekend.” Peggy scolded, John laughed when he realized his prediction was correct. 

“I’m sorry, I predicted you were gonna say that earlier-”

“So what did you come here for, to fix the DNA scanner to rig up to your shark DNA? Go put a lab coat on.” Peggy grumbled, going back to work on her samples of water from a recently polluted lake.

“I came to apologize, Peggy.” John admitted, putting on his lab coat and goggles as he walked over to Peggy, watching as her head darted around with confusion plastered all over her features, her shoulders tense.

“It’s bad enough you swim away and turn into a shark and you come here begging for my forgiveness?! John, Angelica and Eliza screamed for twenty minutes- I know Angelica will tell you it was ten but it was only twenty. I know I’m the baby sister, the push away and all but you scared the living hell out of me and my sisters and everyone and just got up and left and avoided us…” Peggy scolded, putting her samples down and running up to John, standing tall in front of him.

“Yes! And I was being a moron because I never asked for this, cliche to say that, I know but seriously you think I wanted fins and webbed hands and big shark teeth- It’s still catching up to me and I’m so damn close to screaming at a wall, I lashed out in confusion and I’m a weird-ass moron for pushing and hurting you and everyone that’s why I avoided you all, I’m scared, Peggy.” John explained, trying to hold back tears.

“Come here you asshat.” Peggy ordered, pulling him into a hug.

“I’m fine if you hate me, I hate myself as well.” John added, choking out his words, Peggy growled.

“John I will personally shove your head up your ass if you say stuff like that, you were being a douche but so was I for not noticing you have emotions as well, just… Don’t run away from us all next time- or give me road burn.” Peggy lectured as she pulled away from John and pat him on the shoulder.

“Now let’s rig your new damn DNA up to the scanner you fishy weirdo.”  
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────  
“Hey ‘Liza.” John greeted the secretary at the front desk of the hospital, she gave him a big smile and rushed out from behind her desk and pulled John into a big hug. 

“John you scared the living hell out of me running away like that, a-and when you were a shark and swam and… You looked so scared of me a-are you? A-are you okay!?” Eliza asked, bombarding John with questions as she broke into tears.

“‘Liza, I’m fine, I came to apologize, I was acting out of line and was being rough and incorrect- I… Are you okay Eliza?” John asked stepping away from her to wipe a tear from her cheek, she nodded and tackled him into another hug as Theodosia walked in with a clipboard.

“Hi.” She half-giggled.

“Hi Theo, what’s up?” John smiled, helping Eliza up to her feet as he approached Theo with a wave.

“It’s Alexander I came to get Eliza to contact you since you’re his only emergency contact, his injury miraculously stopped spreading and yellow fever medicine is helping him recover very smoothly, too smoothly, it’s been reduced to a cold already, we were just gonna do a scan then release him, John you coming?” Theodosia informed, Eliza gave a shocked look at John who just shrugged jokingly.

“Must’ve been a miracle, I’m coming-”

“John Jesus Christ what happened to your teeth.” Theo commented, Eliza and John both snickered a John lead the way into Alexander’s room, where he was sitting up right and enjoying a juice box. 

“Jowhnn!” Alex slurred as John approached the beg, Alexander pulled him into a hug and sneezed roughly, grumbling to himself. 

“Hey bud, I’m gonna call Pip here in a bit but you need to run through a few scans because of your miraculous recovery!” John enthusiastically exclaimed, Alexander laughed as Theodosia pulled over a bunch of machines, looking like she had missed out on the best joke.

“Sounds good, John- Thank you for rescuing me.” Alexander commented, gently pressing his face against John’s shoulder with a really enthusiastic expression, John internally cringed thinking back at the fact that his frontal lobe had brain damage, he was mentally flipping through his college textbooks until a blurb from them slipped into his brain.

_Patients who suffer from frontal lobe damage may be subject to quick mood swings and intolerance to frustration- aggressive behavior is easy to be triggered in their brains when this occurs but they generally have a high tolerance to fear._

John let his body go on auto-pilot as he continued to watch the results of the scan, Theodosia was correct, his yellow fever was gone and the vein had stopped spreading up his leg- in fact it had completely vanished. He was cured- John’s plan had worked, he had successfully numbed the pain to a point where it killed all of the physical injuries.

“Jesus Christ.” Theodosia proclaimed as he was being disconnected from all of his IVs and set onto a wheelchair gently.

“Physical therapy lessons will begin so-” She was cut off by the sight of Alexander standing up and wobbling slightly over to John as they walked out of the room and into the hall, Eliza looked shocked but waved politely as she fumbled with a bit of paperwork. 

“We’ve never really had a good time to talk, have we?” Alexander spoke smoothly, John couldn’t help but notice the way his voice sounded so unique compared to other’s he’d heard, he admired his build and greasy long black hair that flowed beautifully behind him and his slender fingers that wrapped around John’s plumper hand.

“No, we haven’t.” John responded, fishing out his phone from his pocket and watching as Alexander looked at it in awe.

>> Daddy’s Favourite Rebel [12:34]  
Alex is out of the hospital, BRING PIPA!!!!!!!!!!!

<< Baguettelord [12:38]  
WE ARE IN THE CAR, WE’LL BE THERE IN TWENTY MINUTES.

_Daddy’s Favourite Rebel changed their name to Sharkboy and Lavagirl_

<< Baguettelord [1:39]  
JOHN LAURENS/LAURENCE

“Who is Baguettelord? Why do they have Philip?” Alexander asked with anger quickly masking over his face, John internally cursed.

“He’s Gilbert, Philip’s in good hands, Alexander, let’s just relax for a moment and chat.” John reassured as they made their way to the dock and sat down, staring at the water.

“Gilbert?” Alexander asked, re-adjusting his sitting position, his anger fading completely like it had never been there.

“Yeah, or Lafayette, really depends what you want to call him. Anyways, how are you feeling?” John asked, running his free hand through Alexander’s hair.

“John, I’m feeling wonderful but I told you not to heal me, you look exhausted.” Alexander noticed, running a hand over John’s cheek and inspecting the dark rings under his eyes.

“I’ve had a rough few weeks, Alexander- I’ve been taking care of Philip and trying to get used to being a shark person and all that stuff. But that’s nothing compared to what you were going through, even with the numbing and destruction of viruses. But let me assure you it has nothing to do with you.” John explained, continuing to run his hands through Alexander’s hair.

"I apologise for your bumpy roads, let me make it up to you with a swim sometime? Maybe when Gilbert and Philip come?” Alexander offered, John accepted it with a quick nod.

“John! Your- Since when did you get out of the hospital?” Hercules chuckled, walking into view, Alexander blinked at the man.

“This is Hercules Mulligan, he’s my friend.” John explained, Hercules nodded and joined their tiny circle with a big smile, Alexander seemed unphased by his presence.

“Pleasure to meet you, I’m Alexander Hamilton.” Alexander greeted, holding out his hand for Mulligan to shake, he did so and shook it gently. 

“Anyways, it’s good to see you John, I went in to see Peggy and she told me you were doing better so I came to scout you out but you left the Hospital right as I exited the lab apparently you dumb shark, took me fifteen minutes to get on the right track to sniff you out.” Hercules stuck out his tongue, Alexander shot a concerned look at John.

“He know’s about you?” Alexander asked, looking rather terrified, John nodded.

“It’s fine, he won’t hurt ya.” John reassured, Alexander seemed unconvinced but still stayed calm in the same group as Herc.

“Well Hercules Mulligan, I assume you would like to join me, John, Philip and Gilbert for our swim, am I wrong?” Alexander puffed his chest out as he spoke, John liked his confidence, something he never had.

“Sure, but Peggy, Eliza and Angelica will have our heads if we don’t invite them.” Hercules commented, pulling out his phone and shooting a text to the people in question.

“What are those?” Alexander asked, pointing at the phones.

“Cellular devices, Cellphone or just Phones, we can use them to call people from all over the world as long as they also have a Phone and they can do other stuff like tracking, timing and games.” John explained, giving Alexander his phone after punching in the passcode so he could inspect it.

“I’m going to tap the label with the melon on it, is that alright?” Alexander asked, his finger hovering over the button.

“Of course, it’s a game.” John explained, tapping it for him and watching as fruit ninja popped up, Alexander seemed impressed by it and managed to find out how to play, and there he was- staring intensely at his game and cutting fruit left and right, non-stop, this Hamilton was.

“DADDY!” Philip shrieked, causing Alexander to cut a bomb by accident, he dropped the phone in John’s hands as he ran and brought Philip into a strong embrace.

“Pipa!” Alexander smiled, running a hand through his adopted son’s hair and nuzzling his soft skin gently.

“I missed you so much! Don’t you never get the sick on me again!” Philip scolded, Alexander chuckled and kneeled over, grabbing his son’s hands and smiling wide.

“I’m so proud of you for staying so strong Mi hijo.” Alexander smiled as wide as he possibly could, Hercules and Lafayette both awwed at the scene, Alexander looked over at the new voice and quickly stood up and bowed before Laf.

“Bonjour, Gilbert. It’s been so long.” Alexander smiled, Lafayette just looked confused as John walked up behind Philip, scooping the child up and standing next to Alexander, they looked like a married couple the way they stood- not to mention Philip’s uncanny resemblance to John.

“I’m so confused.” Gilbert admitted, scratching his head.

“It’s fine, I’ll show you when we’re in the water. We’re waiting on some sisters correct?” Alexander looked at Hercules for confirmation, he nodded.

“ANGELICAAA~!” On-que the girls began to filter in, single file.

“ELIZAAA~!” The second one chimed.

“AND PEGGY!” The third one chirped awkwardly as the two got into a line and harmonized brilliantly.

“The Schuyler Sisters~!” They all sung out, waving at Alexander. 

 

“There they are!” Philip commented, everyone chuckled as they shuffled over to the beach- the greenpeace members stripping out of their cover-up clothing to reveal their wetsuits, while John, Pip and Alexander just dove in.

“So what did you mean by you’d show me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was long, quick and did I mention it was quick, everything moves 1 million miles a minute im sorry


	14. We Know the Way

“So you’re saying that this is me?” Lafayette asked, pointing at a magnificent manta ray floating in front of him, shimmering in brilliant colours, Alexander, Philip and John nodded in unison.

“Let it become one with you!” Alexander noted, swimming over and nudging the ray towards Lafayette, it did so and Gilbert went deathly still as the ray fused with him, John crossed his arms and ducked under the water, swirling in the waves with Philip and Hercules.

“THIS IS AMAZING!” Gilbert shrieked, diving into the water, his arms spread out wide with flowing webbing between his arms and his sides, like a flying squirrel but flowing like a cute skirt blowing in the wind. 

Hercules stared blankly at Lafayette, he looked magnificent- breathtaking, Hercules had to stop himself from blushing as him and Laf both swirled through the waves like they were flying. Swimming had never seemed this magical for any of them, it had been something they’d been doing since they were small, a normal activity for all of them, Alexander and Philip had truly impacted all of their lives in such a short amount of time, every single activity seemed like a new door had been opened for them, a new perspective for everything.

But out of everyone who had been changed, John was the one who felt truly new, it was a feeling he oppressed for years- something you’re told when you're young is to hide the things that seem wrong, hide the things you don’t like about yourself, your fears and beliefs all hidden in the back burner. John had been clinging to life from a thread for ages, hiding everything from Henry, from his siblings and other loved ones.

He hid the fact that he had never been attracted to anyone, whenever someone asked who he liked he never knew how to answer, he’d always answer with a shrug or an obvious choice in the class he was in.

He hid the fact that after James Laurens died he blamed it on himself for ages and never talked to anyone about it, he hid his internal guilt until it built up so much he’d wake up and not be able to move without his heart feeling squeezed uncomfortably in it’s place and his bones felt as heavy as anvils.

But then Alexander and Philip stepped into his live, John Laurence had entered him, became a part of him. Everything felt so good, he felt like a weight had been lifted when he entered the water, like he could breathe easily with gills- but he still felt insecure about it all until he’d been released from the true weight. It was truly a lesson he had needed to learn earlier, but as Alexander and Philip had both proven to him, family doesn’t have to be linked via blood.

“John?” Alexander snapped John out of his little daze, gently floating up to him to not startle John in any ways.

“Yeah? Sorry I was just thinking.” John responded truthfully, swimming to Alexander’s side and awkwardly attempting to hold his hand with his webbed fingers, he ended up just grabbing Alexander’s hand in some weird grip, Alexander still smiled at the act.

“We were going to go to a sunken ship, just wanted to grab you before we go, but it seems you’ve grabbed me instead.” Alexander chuckled, John could feel his cheeks warm up as the two swam through the brilliant blue waves, both of their bodies glowing together making a warm aura between them- that’s when he noticed his aura changed around Alexander, it was green, he had no idea why, even when thinking from his Laurence side.

“Alex? Why is our aura green?” John asked as the two began to catch up with the rest of the group.

“Aura glows green when two people are connected, it seems we are connected.” Alexander explained, John raised his eyebrow and stopped swimming as they neared Philip and the others, he looked nervous as Philip’s aura also turned green.

“We’re connected because of Pipa…” John told Alexander as Philip pulled Alex into a large hug.

“Yes, he has accepted you as a parental figure, since I’m also one, we glow as one. It’s like you’re destined to be connected to me.” Alexander grinned, rustling Philip’s hair as he giggled and swam quickly swam over to John, tackling him into just as big as a hug as he gave Alexander.

“John, Alexandre, Philip! Come on mes amies!” Gilbert instructed, gliding over to them and dragging John and Philip, leaving Alexander to swim on his own over to the boat, John felt a familiar feeling creep up him, the urge to simply hunt and let everything go, he held it back as hard as he could as they neared the ship he got caught in.

He made his way into the ship with Alexander behind him, his first stop was the dining hall- the Schuyler sisters were in there, inspecting the broken drawers and frantically showing off their discoveries, old sunken jewelry and magnificent looking silverware all seemed to be preserved perfectly, frozen in time almost. The girls had began to collect in their arms, grinning wide.

“Jesus, this thing is ancient!” John remarked, the sisters all shot him a look saying ‘you’re one to talk’ it took him a moment to realize he was most likely older than this entire ship- he came from an era where silverware didn’t even exist, god, shoes didn’t exist!

“Very funn-” John sniffed the water and quickly darted out of the room, he smelled something different, something familiar, instincts took over as he sniffed out the new smell- it was another shark- but at the same time there was something else familiar, the smell of blood mixed with seawater on a dreary morning, John felt his heart sank as he took control back and stared at the hammerhead in front of him- with a small injury on it’s head right where his brother got hit before he died… It took a moment for John to realize what was happening.

 

“James” He paused as he swam in front of a small shark in confusion, his heart had began to squeeze- but it wasn’t the kind of squeeze he woke up to almost every morning, it was a new one, a new emotion he’d never felt before, he didn’t know the word, he wasn’t sure anyone properly did, all he could do was internally explain it to himself. 

He’d just seen someone he hadn’t seen in six years- someone he had always blamed himself for killing was in front of him, just floating there passively and frozen, he wanted to scream and crawl into a small corner of a ship and hide- but at the same time he wanted to explode from all the… New emotion, it wasn’t love, no, he knew what that felt like, it wasn’t heartache either- nor was it happiness or pleasure, it was different, he felt completely empty yet so full at the same time, like time had stopped and he could do anything he wanted but every step he made a gash would be made in his heart, trapped but free. A bird with clipped wings, a shark with a rip in it’s fin.

“John?” Alexander asked, cautiously swimming over to him with Hercules, Laf, Philip and the Schuyler's, it was very apparent to John that they were there but he did nothing. 

“Did he lose himself to instinct again?” Laf whispered to Herc, who simply shrugged in response, he truly had no clue what John was doing, he looked so disconnected from reality but weighted at the same time, sinking like an anvil that he couldn’t stop, John drifted closer to his brother and gently pet his rough skin, then rubbing it the other way and feeling the smoother side, it was just like his own skin.

“Dada?” Philip asked, this caught John’s attention, but James Laurens had quickly shot in the other direction, John yelped and tried to grab his brother’s tail- he wasn’t ready to see his brother go yet, it had been so long, his previous emotion had sunken into pure desperation.

“My brother… He… He’s alive! He’s alive, Alexander, I-I thought for so long he was gone forever, he’s come back to me Alexander a-and now he’s gone… He’s gone for good now.” John sunk to the sand and curled up in there, Alexander quickly lied next to him- as did Lafayette and the sisters, Philip and Hercules kept their distance.

“Are you gonna be alright?” Philip asked, it took John a moment to answer, at first it came out as a small grumbly growl before he actually used his words.

“He came back so I could move on… Didn’t he...? He’s been here all along, he’s watched me suffer for so long after his death, maybe that’s why I’ve been attached to the ocean, I may be John Laurence and all of that but… God nevermind I’m just… I love him but, It’s time to move on- my blood family is basically in ruin, I’ve been forbidden to ever return, I’m… I don’t know…” John tried to explain, the unexplainable feeling came back to him as he spoke.

“John.” Lafayette spoke, gently stroking his hair as he lifted himself off of the ocean floor slowly and took a deep breath of water.

“We love you” Philip spoke for everyone- they all nodded in agreement, John took a moment before he did anything- but it wasn’t what anyone truly expected him to do, he swam away, he swam back to the ship at blinding speed, Alexander quickly moved after him.

“Merde.” Lafayette frowned, darting after Alexander with Philip and the others close behind, they found him once again in the ship where Lafayette had found him when he first let his instincts take over.

“Hey bud…” Alexander spoke, gently floating next to John, noticing his puffy red eyes, he’d ran not because of instincts, he tried to hide his sorrow.

“I-I love you all, but it’s hard to let go, I’m never going to see Martha or Mary or Jr again, but I can mend those holes in my heart, I know I can, this is the start of something really good, I can tell- but I don’t think I’m ready to mend them this quickly, I need more time… I need… I need to take my mind off of this.” John explained, looking absolutely miserable.

“Swim, John, I don’t care, let your instincts drive you wherever you need to go, you will have time John, we will give you time, just let the ocean call you.” Alexander instructed, everyone truly looked concerned at the advice but noticed how John’s droopy ears lifted in almost excitement as he turned to give Alexander a hug, and then a kiss.

“I love you.” John exclaimed, hugging Alex close, everyone went silent for the two as Philip snuck his way into the hug as well.

“Swim you big dork.” Lafayette instructed, John smiled and ripped free from Alexander and stood there for a moment before darting out of the boat with a trail of green following him, it may take a while, months or maybe years, but this is truly where John belonged- with everyone who truly loves him, in an intense- re. adventurous job and the ocean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry about the way I made this chapter, it may seem OOC because I wrote this based off of my own emotions when I accepted the fact that I'd have to live with a stepdad and that family can be more, I don't want you all leaving this fanfiction asking what the hell just happened, though I love confusing people, I really want people to see from my perspective of life, It's tough coming to terms with change, especially when it comes to family, sometimes you need change, sometimes you get pissed off and just want to hide from the people who love you, but trust me- no matter how low you stoop, you will go back up. 
> 
> I also don't want everyone leaving this story with heartache or a strange feeling of self-doubt or even an existential crisis, I just intended to tell a message with my strange fantasy and hyperactive emotional rides, I hope everyone enjoyed this fanfiction, I really do, I have more planned and on the way!
> 
> Another message I wanted to drive was about Sharks, I'm a huge animal rights activist and though my made up fantasy full of strange powers and shark-people may seem weird I want people to be aware of the whole shark ideal that is happening in the world right now, If you do not know about it please look it up! I hope I've actually changed some people's perspective on Sharks with this fanfiction, it can also serve as a metaphor for acceptance of others, something I personally have a hard time doing, anyways enough of this long thing.
> 
> also constructive criticism is always accepted here, even if you're nervous to comment if I did something offensive or wrong, I'm a laid back person, I won't bite your head off, sure I might respond with my reasoning but I'm not one to get crazy protective, I love criticism and stuff, it drives me to do my research better and write even better every time.
> 
> Also I'm open for fic requests :D If u want to ask for some that is, don't be shy! I don't turn down much! (Unless it's sin I'm a minor)

**Author's Note:**

> Hype! Hype! Hype! I hope you enjoy this series! If you want to chat with me or I forget to update my Tumblr is @Listenlyss and if you want to read more I have a finished fic called Mismatched and a collab with my friend Mackenzie on a sequel to mismatched coming out soon! (this message will be updated when the sequel is out)


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